Clas Ohlson 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. The first store outside Sweden was opened 1991 in Oslo in Norway and in 1999, the
Steinbach (store) Steinbach (store) Steinbach was a department store chain based in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Steinbach was founded in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and maintained branch stores along the New Jersey shore, and in the central part of New Jersey. The company was at one time affiliated with the Kresge-Newark department store in downtown Newark. In the 1960s, the chain was purchased by (SGC), and continued to operate as a standalone company. SGC also purchased the Howland chain in Bridgeport, Connecticut (which had previously merged the Genung's chain of stores into itself), along with the two-store Goerke's department store based in