ÖoB (former Överskottsbolaget) is a
Swedish discount store
Discount stores offer a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down costs.
Types (Uni ...
, owned by the Runsvengruppen. It sells non-perishable food and drink, health & beauty products,
homewares, DIY products and garden equipment. It has over 100 stores nationwide.
History
Runsvengruppen
The company was founded in 1948 by Rune Svensson when he opened a village shop in Mariedamm (
Askersund Municipality
Askersund Municipality () is a municipality in Örebro County in central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Askersund.
The present municipality was created in 1971, when the former ''City of Askersund'' was merged with the rural municipal ...
) which he created a direct sales channel and later expanded to a store in the nearby town of
Skänninge in 1957. Due to difficulties with suppliers at home in Sweden, he started sourcing goods from China and Eastern Europe for his stores. This created his chain of Bonusvaruhusen. He later passed on his chain to his son Oskar in 1977.
In 1992, Runsvengruppen bought Överskottsbolaget with its nine stores, and later changed the retail name for all stores of the group to Överskottsbolaget (English translation: ''The surplus company'') or ÖoB for short. The seemingly superfluous ''o'' between ''Ö'' and ''B'' was added as ''ÖB'' is short for
Överbefälhavare, or
Commander-in-chief, and is thus prohibited for use as a company name.
Överskottsbolaget
Överskottsbolaget first came about in 1960, when the
Swedish army
The Swedish Army () is the army, land force of the Swedish Armed Forces of the Kingdom of Sweden. Beginning with its service in 1521, the Swedish Army has been active for more than 500 years.
History
Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1 ...
quartermasters
Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is an officer who supervises logistics and requisitions, manages stores or barracks, and distributes supplies and pro ...
(Försvarets Fabriksverk, FFV) started selling
surplus items, hence the name (''överskott'' means surplus) from the Swedish army directly to the public. FFV was privatised in 1991. In 2018, Norwegian Europris took a 20% stake in the company's share capital.
[Europris ASA Annual Report 2019]
References
External links
ÖoB’s homepage*
ÖoB’s Facebook pageRunsvengruppen's homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Overskottsbolaget
Retail companies of Sweden
Discount stores
Companies based in Östergötland County
Swedish companies established in 1948
Retail companies established in 1948
Mjölby
20th-century establishments in Örebro County