Östersund concentrated to the shopping and pedestrian street Prästgatan where large local shopping malls such as "Kärnan" and "Mittpunkten" along with department stores such as Åhléns are located. Large clothing companies such as H&M, Lindex and smaller like WESC, approximately 50 restaurants, shoe stores, sporting goods retailers like Stadium and Intersport, several supermarkets (Östersund has rather few convenience stores), etc. Storgatan, the street that runs parallel with Prästgatan is also lined with shops, restaurants and coffeehouses. Unlike Prästgatan this street is not a pedestrian street. Östersund is the city in Sweden with the most square metres of window display per capita.
M. H. Gunaratne later Military Secretary at the Army Headquarters. Promoted to the rank of Brigadier he was appointed as Principal Staff Officer of the Joint Operations Command and thereafter Commander Security Forces Headquarters - East Brigadier Gunaratne was a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College in India. He was awarded the service medals Vishista Seva Vibhushanaya (VSV), the Sri Lanka Armed Services Long Service Medal, Republic of Sri Lanka Armed Services Medal and the Ceylon Armed Services Long Service Medal. After his retirement he became the Chairman of the State Timber Corporation. M. H. Gunaratne Brigadier M. H. Gunaratne, VSV, psc,