Erik Ohlson Erik Ohlson Sir Erik Olof Ohlson, 1st Baronet (19 July 1873 – 20 March 1934) was a Swedish-born British shipping magnate and coal and timber merchant. Ohlson was a son of a farmer in the village of Oppeby in Fellingsbro parish, Sweden. He spent ten years in the coal importing business in Sweden. In 1902, he emigrated to Hull, England, and established the firm of Ohlson & Co, shipowners and brokers, coal exporters, and timber importers. He was knighted in 1915 and created a Baronet, of Scarborough, in the 1920 New Year Honours for his efforts to bring Sweden into
The Popular (department store) a Hungarian immigrant who had previously opened two other retail stores in the area, Tres B (Buena, Bonita, Barata/Good, Pretty, Cheap) and The Fair which he had founded in 1900. Schwartz closed The Fair in 1902 and it was succeeded by The Popular, which he opened with his nephew Maurice Schwartz and other relatives. In 1907, the Popular moved from the northeast corner of El Paso and Overland Streets to Mesa and San Antonio and consisted of three floors by 1914. In 1917 Schwartz transformed The Popular from a general store to a modern department store with a six-story building