Åhléns
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Åhléns is a Swedish chain of department stores, located in almost every city in the country and with several stores in the major cities - there are 18 Åhléns stores in Stockholm alone (March 2007). Åhléns also has business operations in Norway.
Åhléns is one of Sweden’s leading retailers in a number of fields. Operations are focused on four business areas: Fashion (Mode), Beauty (Skönhet), Homeware (Hem), and Media.
Åhléns started out in 1899 as the mail order business Åhlén & Holm, operated from the small city of Insjön in Dalarna. Business boomed and in 1915 the headquarters were moved to Stockholm.
In the 1930s the business idea changed to department stores, and the company opened its first department store in 1932 at Östermalmstorg in Stockholm. In 1964 the main building, Åhléns City, Sweden’s largest department store, was opened in the center of Stockholm.
Today, Åhléns is a wholly owned subsidiary of Axel Johnson AB, which in turn is wholly owned by Antonia Ax:son Johnson, one of the richest women in Sweden and one of the country’s leading capitalists.
