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
Payless DIY larger range of materials. The initial phase used premises such as converted car sales showrooms, mostly in High Street locations. As the formula became increasingly popular with the public and Britain enjoyed a DIY boom in the '80s, new-builds were commissioned on trading estates where much larger premises could be built and garden centres could be incorporated. The High Street shops were gradually closed. In 1985, Marley decided to concentrate on their manufacturing businesses and sold Payless DIY to the Ward White Group. Ward White which also owned Halfords, injected extra funds for expansion and left the existing board in