Clas Ohlson, the Swedish cut-price hardware chain, is to close more than half its UK stores, putting dozens of jobs at risk.
The company, which is listed on the OMX Nordic Exchange in Sweden, said it was closing seven stores that had not met expectations on sales or profits in order to “improve the profitability of the of our UK business”. Clas Ohlson, which began trading in the UK eight years ago, will be left with just six stores.
Outlets in Cardiff, Norwich, Doncaster and Watford are to close over the next year with other locations under negotiation. The company said the closure programme would cost it about 107m Swedish kroner (£9.3m).
But Klas Balkow, president of Clas Ohlson, said the company would be opening one or two smaller stores in the London area this year. “Our commitment to the UK market remains solid,” he said.
Balkow said he could envisage up to 200 stores in the UK when Clas Ohlson entered the market. But the UK cut-price general merchandise arena has become increasingly competitive since 2010 with the expansion of the homegrown chains Poundland, B&M Stores and Wilko, as well as incomers such as Tiger, Clas Ohlson and the original affordable Swedish homeware specialist Ikea.
Clas Ohlson has made a profit every year since it was launched in 1918 by an enterprising bicycle repairman, who named the company after himself.
The hardware chain’s eclectic stores, where power drills are sold alongside fishing rods, cake tins and power cables, have such a devoted fanbase in its home market that thousands of shareholders make an annual pilgrimage to its annual general meeting in the remote village of Insjön, in southern Sweden.
