In the 1880s, Bruno Antelmann opened a grocery store at Jerusalemer Strasse 28 in the Friedrichswerder neighborhood of Berlin.

But not only food, also ethnographica (carvings and jewellery from Africa), home accessories (e.g. palm bast mats, skins, stuffed African game) and colonial literature were available.

[8] "These are the sons of respected, native families, who were mostly recommended by the governors of the individual protected areas to the head of the German Colonial House, Antelmann, for education and professional training.

"[2] Kaiser Wilhelm II and Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin were also infected by the exoticism of the German colonial house, and Bruno Antelmann was appointed purveyor to the court.

In 1914, Bruno Antelmann sold the German Colonial House to the Woermann company, which used the building as a warehouse until around 1935.