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
Clas Ohlson Clas Ohlson Clas Ohlson is a Swedish hardware store chain and mail-order firm that specialises in hardware, home, leisure, electrical and multimedia products. It is one of the biggest of its type in Scandinavia, with more than 200 Clas Ohlson stores as of October 2013. Stores also exist in Norway, Finland, the United Kingdom, Germany and Dubai. Many of the products sold in the stores are own-label items. The company uses the house brands of Asaklitt (luggage and travelware), Capere (bathroom supplies), Cocraft (DIY tools), Cotech (electrical tools), Coline (household electrical items), Exibel (household electrical items) and Northlight (lighting). The