Gekås – the temple of freezer bags and socks Posted by jennie on Dec 14, 2009 in Culture
Imagine Sweden on a beautiful day in July. Imagine the warm breeze, the fresh air, the wide fields, the endless coastlines and the great big smorgasbord of things to do, see and experience. What would you pick? Would you spend the day on the beach? Take a boattrip in the archipelago (skärgård)? A walk in the woods? A stroll around a little fishing village?
Well, let me tell you what the first choice would be for thousands of Swedes. They (I…) would get in a steaming hot car and travel hundreds of kilometers, to the little town of Ullared in the south west of Sweden. Ullared has 830 inhabitants, a firestation, a hotel and a primary school. But (you can see the “but” coming, can’t you?) Ullared also has Gekås, Scandinavia’s biggest department store (varuhus) and one of Sweden’s most popular tourist attractions.
Over 20 000 people enter the doors of Gekås every day and on a good day, they (we…) spend över 20 million SEK in there! (1.6 million GBP, 2.9 millon USD – roughly). It might not sound like an overwhelming sum of money at first, but when you take a closer look at what Gekås mostly sells and think about the number of Swedes, it is pretty respectable.
Gekås is four football pitches big and packed to the limit with freezer bags (fryspåsar), socks, washing up liquid, shampoo, cotton balls, underwear, sweets, toys… you name it, Gekås has it and it’s cheap (billigt). You can even stay the night or a fortnight in the Gekås campsite or the Gekås motel in case you plan to shop until you drop.
But Gekås is much more than an house filled with bargains. Since founded in 1963, Gekås has become an insitution that you either love or hate – even if you haven’t been – and everyone has something to say about it. The stories about the department store are many and amazing (people almost dying of exhaustion in the long queues, people fistfighting over a parking space…) and this winter, Gekås got its own tv-program. One of Sweden’s most popular tv-channels spent the whole summer filming customers (kunder) and sales assistants and believe it or not, it became one of the most popular tv-shows this year. Ullared part II is already scheduled for next year and “Gekås the Christmas special” is on tonight. If you are lucky, you can win a pack of freezer bags signed by the boss of Gekås. And that is not a joke.
So forget Stockholm, nevermind the north and don’t bother with the coastline. If you want to experience the true Swedish soul and get yourself a trolly filled with bargains at the same time – Ullared is the place to be. Just remember to bring comfortable shoes and very sharp elbows.
Foto:Daniel Jälmbratt/Kanal 5
Gekås in numbers:
Every year, the customers buy 100 million paper cups, 12 million rolls of baking paper, 1 million schampoo bottles, 12 million pair of socks and 2 000 tons of sweets.
The average customer drive 150 kilometer to get to Ullared.
Gekås has Sweden’s biggest parking lot with 2 000 parking spaces.
Have you been to Ullared? Or would you rather eat someone’s dirty socks? Share your thoughts or experience and you might win a pack of freezer bags signed by the Swedish blog team!
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Comments:
Anne:
Sounds like a typical American Costco, BJs or Sam’s Club to me. Americans know big.
jennie:
Yes! I haven’t been to any of those, but I can imagine it being the same. Apart from the fact that we only have one in Sweden 🙂 We are not very good with the big and the bold.
Would a tv-series about BJs work, you reckon?
Judy:
Just wondering what the pronunciation is… a hard “g” or soft “g?” And, what does it mean?
jennie:
It is a hard G and it doesn’t mean anything at all, it is just a bunch of letters put together more or less. 🙂
Carla:
Curious! I haven’t heard of this until now. The only big shopping destination outside of Stockholm that I’ve heard of is Kungens Kurva. I watched a clip from tv show on the kanal5 website, looks fun though the language is way beyond me.
Carla:
Is it a bit like The Office, a fictional show set up to look like a reality show?
jennie:
@Carla: “Ullared” is pure reality, even though some scenes are to bisarre to be real, I bet the producers stage some of the events. But all in all, it is a realityshow about the store, the customers and the employees… And it’s a huge success! If I find a translated clip I’ll send it to you! 🙂
Lee:
A typical Costco or Sam’s Club store has a floor space of about 130,000 ft2 (12.000 m2), while Gekås is 20.000 m2 (215,000 ft2).
So Gekås is 65% larger in terms of floor space than the average Costco or Sam’s Club. I wouldn’t dismiss it so quickly.
Luke (Sydney):
Don’t know why, the image of Woodstock comes up. May be it’s because I haven’t been to neither 🙂
P.S. “Eat someone’s dirty socks”? Was it a typo or a kinky thing swedes normally do?
jennie:
Haha, that is exactly what we do, every day, all the time. Eat dirty socks. But no, no typo, just an expression for something you absolutely not want o do. “I rather eat dirty socks.”.
Jijo:
Jennie wrote
It is a hard G and it doesn’t mean anything at all, it is just a bunch of letters put together more or less. 🙂
Duhhh
It stands for Göran Karlsson the man who started it.
GeKå is how you say G K in swedish.
jennie:
Oh crap, does this mean you will never more believe anything I post? Apologies for that horribly rushed assumption, I did google it but did not make the connection, obvoiusly computers can’t solve everything for us…
Cheers for the comment! 🙂
Bevan:
I’ve never been to a big American costco, but I can imagine there is one big difference: The location.
Gekas is literally hidden deep in the Swedish woods. You need to drive along miles of ‘B’ roads to get there.
We’re into quiet holidays, walks in the woods, secluded lakes, mushroom and blueberry picking, etc.
4 years ago, we were randomly driving around Sweden’s small roads.
We found a very nice area and decided to rent a cabin for 2 weeks.
The next day we needed to get a few basics like milk and bread, so we located the closest village on the map and drove there.
Imagine our surprise when we arrived at Ullared’s “local” shop, Gekas.