Gekås Ullared - Sweden's largest tourist destination

Gekås Ullared is now Sweden's biggest tourist destination, with around 4.8 million visitors every year. For the first time ever, we have taken a look around this famous discount department store. Join us on a tour through Gekås Ullared!

Gekås Ullared

Gekås Ullared was founded in 1963 by Göran Karlsson (GK or Ge-Kå) under the name Ge-kås Manufaktur. In the decades since, the company has grown explosively and is now a tourist destination with huge visitor car parks and busloads of customers.

The phenomenon has become so big that there are even TV series set in and around the department store: Ullared and Ullared - The Hunt for the Bestseller. We've never been here before, but we're a bit curious about what it is that attracts so many people. Finally our turn to visit!

Gekås Ullared is located in Falkenberg municipality in Halland, 33 kilometres east of Varberg.

What is Gekås Ullared?

To describe the Gekås Ullared department store, you have to use some numbers. Everything here is gigantic. Let's start with some numbers that describe the size of the department store. The figures are taken from the department store's own website:

• 82 cash outflows
• 3500 car parks
• 7500 customers are accommodated at the same time
• 9000 shopping trolleys
• 10 000 shopping baskets
• 40 000 square metres of retail space

In other words, crazy big! Of course, it is also traded a great deal in the department store. Here are some figures to help describe the shopping that takes place:

• Over 100 000 unique items are available in the range.
• 1.2 million trousers (including jeans) are sold per year.
• 5.9 million toys are sold per year.
• SEK 50 million is the value of all goods in the store.
• 100 million bull moulds are sold per year.
• 135 million goods pass through checkouts over the course of a year.

In order to really understand how big this is, we also choose to present some of the department store's record figures:

• Most visitors/year: 4.9 million customers visited Gekås in 2019.
• Most visitors/day: 29 900 customers visited Gekås on 30 July 2019.
• Best sales/year: 5.6 billion shopped by customers in 2019.
• Best sales/day: 41.7 million was spent in the store on 9 November 2019.
• Longest queue: 1.4 kilometres of queue was measured on 30 October 2010.
• Most buses/day: 127 buses full of customers arrived on 4 February 2017.

The average customer is a 43-year-old woman living in Götaland. She goes to Gekås during the day and drives 23 kilometres one way. She visits the department store 2-5 times a year. She spends almost five hours in the store and shops for about SEK 3300.

Coming to Gekås Ullared by motorhome (or caravan)

As a first-time visitor, it was a slightly shocking experience to arrive at Gekås Ullared by motorhome. Long before we could imagine a department store, we saw campsites, parking spaces, car parks... Had we arrived? No, it is just to realise, this is a gigantic area. For motorhomes there is:

• Camping Shopping centre with space for 300 motorhomes and caravans, just south of the department store.
• RV park Sönneräng at the central warehouse on road 153, 1.5 kilometres east of Ullared.
• RV park Gekåsbyn reception, can be pre-booked and is open when needed.
• Car parks for motorhomesand also caravans, can be found in several places at the department store. Signs show where motorhomes and caravans can be parked.

We stood in a car park for motorhomes, and then we started looking around in confusion. Where should we go? Where was the department store? There were no signs for Gekås and we were way too far away to get a visual, but then we saw people coming with shopping trolleys filled with goods ... in that direction, of course, we would go!

Shopping at Gekås Ullared - our experiences

We were lucky enough to arrive at Gekås Ullared at a rather quiet time - a Monday morning at the end of August. Despite this, it was a myriad of impressions! Step 1 was to pick up a shopping cart in the (huge) cart stable. We have probably never seen this many shopping carts at once before!

Then we entered the department store. Phew, where to start? Here you can find kitchenware, hygiene products, cleaning equipment, clothes, sports equipment, tools, toys and well... everything.

Maybe some hair products? A knee pad for gardening? A hat? I (Helena) tried on some items of clothing and was almost about to consider a purchase, no, it didn't happen.

What about a t-shirt for Peter? Haha, no, it did not go home. But what about the men? According to Gekås Ullared's customer surveys, 64 per cent of customers are women and 36 per cent men. Many men certainly like Ullared, but we also saw men who preferred to sit in the recliner outside the motorhome while the wife (presumably) did the shopping ...

A new happy luggage tag then perhaps? No, there was no such thing actually. So what was it then? Well, we took the opportunity to stock up on disposable items and such. We think it is very practical to have access to paper plates and paper cups in the motorhome, for quick lunches when it is difficult to stand and wash dishes.

We also checked out the Outlet House in Ullared (not the house in the picture below). There you will find well-known brands at "Ullared prices". It was fun to look around and we tried on a few things, although there was no bargain this time. In the house there is also a shop that sells sex toys. We had not expected that! But haha, no, there was no shopping there either ... We had to settle for the disposable items!

Ice cream and other food items

What if you get hungry? Well, there are of course plenty of restaurants both in and around Gekås Ullared. Inside the department store, you can park your trolley outside any restaurant/coffee bar while you eat or take your coffee.

There are also restaurants outside the department store, serving hamburgers, grills, prawn sandwiches and churros. Or why not try the 'Ullaredsmålet'?

We eat in the camper van as often as possible, because we travel so much and for so long, but we do enjoy an ice cream from time to time. So even now!

There was no "Gekås Special", but rather a cone with hazelnut and punchrussin ice cream.

Good and perfect with some new energy after an exhausting round at Gekås Ullared. Because even if it was a quiet day, and even if we shopped quite limited, it is still a slightly exhausting experience to get through the department store ... Now we have at least experienced Sweden's largest tourist destination and know what everyone is talking about!

More to see and do in the neighbourhood

Not too far from Gekås Ullared you will find Grimeton Radio Station, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site and an excursion destination. It is also close to both Varberg and Falkenberg, both of which are lovely summer towns with great beaches. In Varberg you can also discover Varberg Fortress and in Falkenberg we can, for example, recommend the much talked about little pizzeria Little Napoli.

Do you usually shop at Gekås Ullared?

Why or why not? If you shop here - what kind of bargains do you usually find?

Facts about Gekås Ullared

• Landscape: Halland
• County: Halland County
• Municipality: Falkenberg
• Location: Ullared
• Address: Danska vägen 13, Ullared
• Read more: You can find more information at department store website.

About the company

• Type of enterprise: Private limited company
• Industry: Retail trade, discount stores
• Founding: 1963
• Founder: Göran Karlsson
• Owners: Thomas Karlsson

Services and practical information

• Accommodation: The hotel, Hotel Ulla, holiday village, campsite, motel and caravan park.
• Food service: Restaurant, coffee bar, sports bar, salad & food bar, hotel restaurant and Gekåsbyn bistro.
• The shopping bus: The Gekås shopping bus is a free bus that runs between the department store and the Gekås village.