| Type | Publicly-traded Aktiebolag |
|---|---|
| Traded as | OMX: CLAS B |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1918 |
| Headquarters | Insjön, Sweden |
| Revenue | SEK 4,930 million (2009) [1] |
| Employees | 1,927 (2009) [2] |
| Website | www.clasohlson.se |
Clas Ohlson is a Swedish hardware chain store and mail-order firm that sells amongst other things, hardware, electrical, multimedia, and home and leisure products. It is the biggest of its type in Scandinavia, with a total number of Clas Ohlson stores is 121 as of July 2010.[3] Stores also exist in Norway, Finland, and the United Kingdom. Much of the products sold in the stores are own-label items. The company uses the house brands of Asaklitt (luggage and travelware), Capere (kitchenware), Cocraft (DIY tools), Cotech (electrical tools), Coline (household electrical items), & Exibel (household electrical items), north light (lighting).
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The company was founded in 1918 by the technically-minded Clas Ohlson (1895–1979), as a mail order business based in the Swedish village of Insjön, Dalarna. Initially, only manuals and technical literature were sold, thus allowing people who lived in rural communities to obtain literature that would otherwise be unavailable. He opened his first shop in Insjön in 1926, but it was not until 1989, when the company opened a store in a shopping centre in central Stockholm, that it expanded into the retail business.[4] Since then, expansion has been rapid. There are now stores throughout Sweden, Norway and Finland.
In 2008, the company opened its first store in the United Kingdom, in Croydon, south London. There are now 12 stores in the UK, including Manchester, Leeds, Watford, Kingston upon Thames, Reading, Liverpool, Merry Hill, Cardiff, Doncaster, Norwich and Newcastle upon Tyne. It hopes to have around 100 stores in the UK.[5]