Stockmann

Stockmann plc

The flagship Stockmann department store in downtown Helsinki, Finland
Trading name	Stockmann
Native name	Stockmann Oyj Abp
Type	Public
Traded as	Nasdaq Helsinki: STCBV
ISIN	FI0009000251
Industry	Retail
Founded	1862 (1862) in Helsinki, Finland
Founder	Heinrich Georg Franz Stockmann
Headquarters	Helsinki, Finland
Products	Groceries, clothing, cosmetics, home products
Brands	Stockmann, Stockmann Herkku, Lindex, One Way
Number of employees	9734 (2016)
Website	www.stockmanngroup.com

Stockmann plc is a Finnish listed company engaged in the retail trade. The Group has three business divisions: Lindex, Stockmann Retail and Real Estate. Stockmann was established in 1862 and celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2012. Stockmann has 8 department stores and 425 fashion stores in 17 countries.

The flagship store in downtown Helsinki covers 50,000 square metres (540,000 sq ft) of retail space and welcomes more than 17 million visitors every year. It is the largest department store in the Nordic countries.

History

The Art Nouveau façade of the flagship store

Christmas at Stockmann

The dome of the store

Stockmann was established by Georg Franz Stockmann, a German merchant from Lübeck. In 1859 Stockmann became the manager of a store in Helsinki's Senate Square. In 1862, G.F. Stockmann took control of the store and Stockmann was officially established. In 1902 the company became G.F. Stockmann Aktiebolag. The shareholders were Stockmann and his two sons, Karl and Frans. In 1930 the building which houses the current headquarters of the department store was finished, complete with revolving doors, a soda fountain and escalators. Stockmann also bought a book store, Akateeminen kirjakauppa (Swedish: Akademiska bokhandeln), in the same year. The first television transmission in Finland was broadcast from the department store in 1950. In the same decade Stockmann opened a new department store in Tampere. In the beginning of the 1980s Stockmann opened two new department stores, Tapiola in 1981 and Turku in 1982. In 1986 the first "Hullut Päivät" or "Crazy Days" sales were held. The sales proved extremely popular and became a biannual event. The first Stockmann stores outside of Finland opened in Moscow in 1989, and in the 1990s in Tallinn. The northernmost department store was opened in Oulu in 2001.^[1]

In October 2007 Stockmann bought the Swedish clothing retailer Lindex, with 331 outlets in the Nordic region and the Baltic republics. Stockmann created its own online store in 2010.

Per Thelin was appointed as Stockmann’s new CEO in October and took up his duties on 10 November 2014. Stockmann’s long-serving CEO Hannu Penttilä relinquished his duties in August and he retired on 31 December 2014.

Stockmann started to revise its strategy in 2014 in order to improve the Group’s long-term competitiveness. The new direction was set in late 2014. Stockmann will focus on fashion, cosmetics, home products and food and complement its own offering with attractive goods and services from tenants.

Stockmann divided its operations into Stockmann Retail and Real Estate to better be able us to concentrate on core competences: Stockmann Retail on the department stores and online business and Real Estate on managing and developing the properties.

Stockmann sold its Seppälä subsidiary on 1 April 2015 to Seppälä’s CEO Eveliina Melentjeff and her husband Timo Melentjeff.

Stockmann sold the Academic Bookstore to the Bonnier Books AB media company on 30 September 2015. Bonnier continued to operate the Academic Bookstore business in Stockmann’s Book Building in the Helsinki city centre and in other Stockmann department stores in Finland, excluding Oulu.

Stockmann completed the divestment of its department store business in Russia to Reviva Holdings Limited on 1.2.2016. Stockmann continued to operate the Nevsky Centre shopping centre in St Petersburg.

In September Lauri Veijalainen was appointed the company’s new Chief Executive Officer. He had served as the company’s interim CEO since April 2016, and before that as the CFO. Stockmann sold Hobby Hall to the Finnish SGN Group on 31 December 2016. Hobby Hall's business operations were transferred to the new owner on 1 January 2017. The department store in Oulu was closed on 31 January 2017.

Stockmann Retail

Stockmann department store in Tampere

The Turku branch of Stockmann

In 2017, Stockmann Retail comprises 8 department stores and an online store. Stockmann's department stores operate in Finland, Estonia and Latvia.

Real Estate

Real Estate is responsible for managing the properties owned and leased by Stockmann. The Real Estate division comprises the five properties owned by the Stockmann Group in Helsinki, St Petersburg, Tallinn and Riga. The gross leasable area (GLA) of the properties is around 142,000 m2 and 52% of this is being used by Stockmann Retail and the rest by external tenants.

Real Estate is focusing on increasing the value of the high-quality property portfolio owned by the Group, the properties’ rental income and on its close cooperation with Stockmann Retail. The division is also responsible for managing all the properties and for the subletting of leased premises.

Lindex

Stockmann acquired Lindex in 2007. With its attractive fashion concept, Lindex is today one of Europe’s leading fashion chains. At the end of 2016 Lindex had a total of 475 stores in 16 countries, of which franchising stores accounted for 39 in six countries. Lindex had 436 of its own stores in ten countries.

Locations

References

External links

• (in English) Stockmann