Gekås

57°8′3″N 12°42′51″E

Gekås Ullared AB

Gekås, 2010
Industry	Retail
Founded	1963 (1963) in Ullared, Sweden
Founder	Göran Karlsson
Headquarters	Ullared , Sweden
Number of locations	1 store (2017)
Area served	Most of Sweden
Key people	Patrik Levin Chairman CEO
Revenue	4.055 billion SEK (2017)
Operating income	338.814 million SEK (2017)
Net income	262.586 million SEK (2017)
Total assets	2.925 billion SEK (2017)
Total equity	1.703 billion SEK (2017)
Number of employees	740 (2017)
Parent	Gekås AB
Subsidiaries	Gekås Ullared Restaurang AB Gekåsbyn Ullared AB
Website	gekas.se
Footnotes / references Statistics from the 2017 financial statements [1]

Gekås Ullared AB is a Swedish superstore in Ullared, Sweden, founded in 1963 by Göran Karlsson as Ge-kås Manufaktur. It had an annual turnover of SEK 4.2 billion in 2010,^[2] with a total store area of over 30,000 m² (320,000 sq ft) in addition to a 50,000 m² (540,000 sq ft) storage area just a few hundred yards away. In 2013, Malin Helde became CEO of the store, while Boris Lennerhov became CEO of the parent company.^[3] The store is visited annually by approximately 4.5 million customers,^[4] with the 2007 record of 26,200 for a single day, and the average customer travelling 150 km to get to the store. The store has recently opened a camping ground and a motel to accommodate long-distance travellers. It has been known for avoiding conventional advertising, instead relying on word of mouth. For three years starting in 2011, a reality television series, Ullared, was filmed in and around the store. It aired in both Norway and Sweden.

On 25 July 2011, the superstore was visited by record 29,500 customers during the day. The longest queue outside the superstore ever was recorded on 30 October 2010, when the queue was longer than 1.4 km. Through Gekås' website, potential customers can monitor the queue length.^[5] A barometer as measure indicates the length of the queue outside the building. Additionally, two web cameras give additional information about the situation at the entry. In 2011, over 122 million items passed the store's checkouts. The checkout has today about 60 cashiers. The department store's product range consists of over 100,000 items.^[6] The value of the goods available in the store is $4.9 million.^{[citation needed]} A fully loaded truck delivers items every 10 minutes.^{[citation needed]}

Gekås central warehouse has a size of 15000 square metres and holds about 10,000 pallets. Every 30 minutes all-year-round a new truck arrives. During peak season the entire store will be emptied in less than two business days.^[7]

Facilities belonging to Gekås

Beyond the continuously expanded shopping center, Gekås operates Sweden's largest all-year-round campground. A lake for swimming with fountain is located in short walking distance from the campground and the huge parking lot.

The parking lot, with 3200 spaces, is considered Sweden's largest parking lot.^[8]

Gekås build the recent years a car museum (now closed and market as convention center), a motel and a business hotel. On the road towards Ätran on the outskirt of Ullared is a warehouse with additional parking and dog kindergarten. Buses are running between the different locations for transportation of shoppers.

The former museum showed Göran Karlsson's car collection, where a DeLorean as in the motion picture "Back to the Future" was used, was part of the collection.^{[citation needed]}

History

• 1963 – Store founded in Ullared by Göran Karlsson.
• 1967 – The store moves to a bigger building.^{[citation needed]}
• 1971 – The store changes location again, to its current location.
• 1991 – Göran Karlsson sells the company to "six of his closest employees".^[9]
• 2003 – The market court forbids Göran Karlsson, who had started a competing business, from using the word "Ullared" in his marketing.^[10]

Notes

• Ullared - byn som blev ett varumärke, Torsten Andersson. 2003. Falkenberg: Ge-kås Ullared AB. ISBN 91-631-3660-0