Jobs on way as Swedish retailer opens store

Clas Ohlson, which sells hardware and leisure products, is due to open a store in the Headrow, Leeds, on April 30.

Mark Gregory, the company's UK managing director, also confirmed that Clas Ohlson might consider opening more stores in Yorkshire as part of its expansion plans.

Clas Ohlson already has five UK stores in Croydon, Manchester, Reading, Kingston-upon-Thames and Watford.

It also plans to open a store in Liverpool later this year.

Mr Gregory said: "Leeds is a great city from a retail point of view with a very diverse population. We see it as our heartland base, in terms of customers.

"We're creating about 40 jobs in the store, with a mix of full-time and part-time. The culture in Sweden is very service-orientated. We have a Swedish training group living here on a project basis, working for us. They work with the new store teams, they take them across to Sweden for a training programme and then they are with them for this induction which lasts six weeks.

"It's a no-brainer for us to be in Leeds. It's a place we wanted to be – strategically it was on our radar. We had over 350 applicants for the jobs.

"We have announced plans to open six to 10 stores in 2010 and 2011. There is a possibility they could be in the Yorkshire region. We start with a long list and then we work through. We want to build more stores in the North."

The Leeds store will cover 23,000 sq ft and will sell more than 10,000 products.

The firm was founded as a mail order business by Clas Ohlson in Insjn, Sweden, in 1918. It opened its first store outside Insjn in 1989 – in Stockholm.

In 1985 the company began trading in Norway. At first, the business was strictly mail order. In 1991, the first Norwegian store opened in Oslo. Clas Ohlson moved into the UK in November 2008.