Retail

Gekås Ullared (S)

The Sweden Principle

Scandinavia's largest and most profitable shopping centre is located in the County of Halland, on the Southern Coast of Sweden: Gekås Ullared.

These figures speak for themselves

Last year Gekås Ullared served around four million customers, selling 13 million pairs of socks, 600,000 CDs, half a million Santas, 40 million pastries, 12 million packs of baking paper and 2,000 tonnes of sweets. Each year, Swedes, Norwegians, Danes and North Germans head for the 20,000 square metre shopping centre in the small town of Ullared in southern Sweden. It is quite common here for the traffic news to report record queues on the roads leading to Ullared. "If someone says Ullared, they automatically mean Gekås," explains Boris Lennerhov, Managing Director at Gekås Ullared. Customers stream to Ullared, especially in summer when the Scandinavians are on holiday. Queues at the entrance are not unusual. Just like on 23 July 2008, when Gekås Ullared saw record numbers of visitors and sales: 26,200 customers provided a turnover of 20.7 million Swedish krona (approx. 2 million euros). Boris Lennerhov: "Many of our customers come from up to 200 kilometres away." First they arrive, then they shop happily: the average turnover per customer is 3,000 Swedish krona, about 260 euros. In the high season, Gekås Ullared sells goods worth 33,000 Swedish krona (almost 3,000 euros) per minute. That's why there are trucks delivering ordered goods that arrive at ten-minute intervals. "Without this constant stream of supplies, our customers would buy up the whole store in less than two days during the high season between April and Christmas.

The cult status of Gekås Ullared in Scandinavia is based on a perfect combination:

a huge choice of food and non-food items, numerous brand-name products and consistently low prices. Gekås Ullared buys its goods directly from industry, without a middleman, and in large quantities, which keeps prices low. It also avoids classic advertising methods, such as television, radio and the newspapers. Instead, Gekås Ullared relies on its customers' personal experiences, on the resulting word-of-mouth recommendations and the customer newsletter 'Gekås Ullared Extra'. "Customers trust us. They get good deals. We get good business. It's that simple at Gekås Ullared," explains Managing Director Boris Lennerhov happily. So that people can shop seven days a week, Gekås Ullared introduced Sunday opening in 2008. "A resounding success: the shopping experience is more relaxed and the stream of visitor flows is better distributed." So, this year too, you can simply postpone your family shopping trip to Sunday, from the beginning of March until Christmas.

The cult status of Gekås Ullared in Scandinavia is based on a perfect combination:
"Customers get good deals. We get good business.“
BORIS LENNERHOV, Geschäftsführer Gekås Ullared

Gekås Ullared.

Göran Karlsson founded Gekås in 1963 as a small warehouse, measuring 30 square metres. Over the following 28 years, he established the business as Scandinavia's biggest shopping centre. In 1991, he handed the company over to six of his closest employees. Since 2004, Torbjörn Bäck and Thomas Karlsson, both trained by Gekås founder Göran Karlsson, have owned the shopping centre; and they still closely follow their former boss's mission statement: "Do what you say you will and do it how you say you will." This is exactly why Gekås has been so successful for so many decades. The customers trust the company. Boris Lennerhov has been the Managing Director at Gekås since 2000. In 2003, Gekås had Ullared, the name of the town and home of Gekås, protected – and renamed the company Gekås Ullared.

Gekås Ullared.

Holiday in Ullared

Go shopping and take a holiday – is that possible? It is at Gekås Ullared! Gekås Ullared is now a well-frequented and busy tourist destination with adventure mini golf, saunas and hot tubs, a barbecue area, canoeing and a perfect sandy beach for bathing in the summer. There is a range of cheap and convenient accommodation – motels, holiday apartments, holiday houses, caravans or tents. However, if you are interested, make sure you book early because these 800 spaces tend to be fully booked between March and Christmas. Last year, 214,000 people stayed at Gekås Ullared. Even the camp site is one of the most popular in the whole of Sweden in terms of the number of bookings. All of this is, of course, just a stone's throw away from the shopping centre.

Holiday in Ullared