HELEXPO THESSALONIKI 17-19 OCTOBER 2025
The company is one of the largest and oldest in the fishing industry. The address of the store is at the 14th kilometer of the Thessaloniki – Nea Moudania highway.
The business was started in 1925 in Kavala by Athanasios Kalaitzis the Elder, who opened the shop at 8 Kountouriotou Street with items for professional and amateur fishermen, while closing his small shop, with convenience and marine items.
Among the items he provided were nets and lines made of cotton yarn, many twisted from the cottage industries of Kavala, and lines made of horsehair twisted, imported from England. After the sudden death of Athanasios Kalaitzis on 23 March 1939, the business was taken over by his wife Zoe and his children Michalis and George.
In 1941 the shop was moved to 10 Theodorou Poulidou and then in 1947 to 8 Theodorou Poulidou, after the destruction of the previous premises by the Bulgarians.
A large part of the sales volume was made up of the nets for pedestrian nets, until then cotton nets, the manufacture of which employed several workers in various handicrafts in Kavala.
Until the appearance, in 1950, of the first nylon fishing line imported from the German DAMYL, the privately owned silk mill used silk hair imported from Spain for the production of fishing line. The parasols were made from silkworm seed, stretched and twisted, while the hooks were made by the well-known Norwegian company MUSTAD.
Slowly, in 1953, the first imports of nylon nets began, which were much stronger and more durable than their cotton counterparts.
In 1954, the first CAVALERO rubber fishing rifles and spring fishing rifles made their appearance in the shop.
In 1958 the business was moved to 14, Red Cross Street, in the port of Kavala, where it is still located today.
In 1959 the Thessaloniki branch was established at 6 Markos Bottsaris Street in the area of old Salamina and very quickly gained the trust of local fishermen so that it was slowly cut off from the Kavala branch. Georgios Kalaitzis took over the store in Thessaloniki while Michael Kalaitzis took over the store in Kavala.
From 1967 to 1982 Georgios Kalaitzis expanded his product range and his clientele in the shop at 24 Mitropoleos Street in the centre of Thessaloniki, where he moved almost parallel to the transfer of the fish market to the premises of the Thessaloniki customs office.
The recreational fishing sector (surface fishing, underwater fishing) developed significantly there and many innovative products appeared during this period.
The first AQUA-LUNG underwater fishing suits, breathing regulators, buoyancy regulators, MARES air guns and the first silicone masks.
In 1981 the store opened at 4 Karolou Diel next to the German Consulate and a few years later the store at 4 Venizelou Street in Eleftherias Square was established.
The great development of the center of Thessaloniki and the intense traffic problem created a few years later the need for decentralization.
So in 1990 the store started operating at the 14th km of the Thessaloniki – Nea Moudania highway in the area of Thermi, in a 420m area. This location serves both amateur fishermen – scuba divers heading to Halkidiki and professional fishermen of Halkidiki and Nea Krini who avoid the hassle of the centre.
In 2004 the online shop was launched at www.kalaitzis.gr or www.fishing-diving.gr which has now been enriched with hundreds of products for fishing, diving, boating and camping.
