Odel (stylised as O▷ΞL and ODEL) is a
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
retail company, the first in Sri Lanka. Starting out as a single company focusing on the retail garment trade, Odel developed over the years to become the first department store in the country.
History
The company started when
Otara Gunewardene began selling factory surplus garments and apparel from her car boot to family and friends in 1989.
Gunewardene registered Odel (the name is based on her own name, Otara Del Gunawardene
[) as a private limited liability company on 31 October 1990]Majestic City
Majestic City, traded as C T Land Development PLC, is a seven-storey commercial and shopping complex, located in Bambalapitiya
Bambalapitiya is a southern coastal neighbourhood of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The area also known as Colombo 4, spans ab ...
and by 1995 the company had a total of nine stores located in city hotels and shopping centres throughout Colombo.
In 1996 Odel opened its flagship store in Alexandra Place, Colombo, which was further expanded to in 2000. In 2005 the company opened a store in the departure/transit lounge of Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake, as a part of an initiative in conjunction with the Airport Expansion Project. Odel opened two more stores in Kohuwela and Ja-Ela
Ja-Ela ( si, ජා-ඇල, ta, ஜா-எல) is a suburb of Colombo, located approximately north of the Colombo city centre. Ja-Ela lies on the A3 highway (Sri Lanka), A3 road which overlaps with the E03 expressway (Sri Lanka), Colombo – Ka ...
.
In 2009 they opened a further three stores in Nugegoda
Nugegoda ( si, නුගේගොඩ) is a large, densely populated suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is located in the border of Sri Jayawardenapura Municipal Council limits and Dehiwela Mt. Lavinia Municipal Council limits, just outside Colombo ...
, Mount Lavinia
Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia ( si, දෙහිවල-ගල්කිස්ස, translit=Dehivala-Galkissa; ta, தெஹிவளை-கல்கிசை, translit=Tehivaḷai-Kalkicai), population 245,974 (2012) is the largest suburb of the City of ...
and Moratuwa
Moratuwa ( si, මොරටුව, ta, மொறட்டுவை) is a large suburb of Colombo, on the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka, near Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia. It is situated on the Galle–Colombo (Galle road) main highway, south o ...
. The following year the company opened another three stores in Panadura
Panadura ( si, පානදුර, translit=Pānadura; ta, பாணந்துறை, translit=Pāṇantuṟai) is a city in Kalutara District, Western Province in Sri Lanka. It is located approximately south of Colombo and is surrounded on ...
, Maharagama
Maharagama is an outer suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka on the High-Level (A4) Road about from the centre of the commercial capital. It developed rapidly in the 1980s as a dormitory suburb. Governed by the Maharagama Urban Council, the town possesse ...
and Battaramulla
Battaramulla is a suburb of Colombo, situated from the city centre at Colombo Fort, near the Parliament of Sri Lanka. It is one of the fastest developing administrative, commercial and residential areas in the Colombo District, being home to the ...
. On 24 February 2010, it was converted into a public limited liability company and in July Odel became the first fashion retail business to be listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange.[
In 2012 the company opened stores in ]Wattala
Wattala ( si, වත්තල, ta, வத்தளை) is a large suburb of Colombo city, in Western Province, Sri Lanka, situated around 9 km from Colombo city centre. This suburb is situated on A3 highway from Colombo to Negombo. Around W ...
, Kiribathgoda
Kiribathgoda ( si, කිරිබත්ගොඩ, ta, கிரிபத்கொடை) is a large suburb of Colombo and is situated on A1 highway, between Kelaniya and Kadawatha. It is the first commercial E-Suburb in Sri Lanka. The suburb is ...
and in the Kandy City Centre
Kandy City Centre is a ten-storey commercial and retail complex which is located in Kandy, Sri Lanka near the Temple of Tooth Relic. Construction of the centre was started in 1993 and opened in 2008. The complex was the vision of Thusitha Wijay ...
shopping complex, the first store outside the Western Province
Western Province or West Province may refer to:
* Western Province, Cameroon
*Western Province, Rwanda
*Western Province (Kenya)
*Western Province (Papua New Guinea)
*Western Province (Solomon Islands)
*Western Province, Sri Lanka
*Western Provin ...
. Odel also launched Luv SL - a concept store carrying stylish souvenirs and products catering to locals and tourists - opening Luv SL stores at the Queen's Hotel, Kandy and the Old Colombo Dutch Hospital The Old Colombo Dutch Hospital (known as ''The Dutch Hospital'') is considered to be the oldest building in the Colombo Fort area dating back to the Netherlands, Dutch colonial era in Sri Lanka. It is now a heritage building and a shopping and din ...
shopping precinct.
In July 2012 Parkson Retail Asia Limited purchased a 41.82 per cent stake in the company for Rs 1.424 billion.
In September 2014 Gunewardene sold her majority shareholdings in Odel PLC to the Softlogic Group for LKR 2.7 billion.[ Softlogic has subsequently increased its shareholding and on 30 June 30, 2016, it held a 96.67 per cent stake in the company.]
References
External links
Company website
{{All Share Price Index
Companies listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange
Department stores of Sri Lanka
Shopping malls in Sri Lanka
Retail companies of Sri Lanka
Retail companies established in 1990