Georg Franz Stockmann

Right from the beginning, the business founded in Helsinki by the German-born Georg Franz Stockmann represented a novel way of selling. It began as a specialised shop and - unlike the old commercial enterprises - concentrated on retailing and wholesaling instead of shipping, industry or the export trade. Its range laid emphasis on high-quality products and on items that were up to date or even slightly ahead of their time. At the beginning of the 20th century, the expansion of its product range resulted in a department-store type of shop, the first in Finland.

Georg Franz Heinrich Stockmann arrived in Finland in 1852 from Germany. A forestry officer's son, he was born at Ritzerau near Lübeck in 1825. From the age of fifteen to twenty, he was a trainee in a grocery business in Lübeck, after which he worked for seven years in paint and chemical firms in Lübeck and Hamburg. Aiming at an independent career, Stockmann planned to go to America, but he ended up in Finland when Adolf Törngren, the owner of the Nuutajärvi glass factory, sought employees in Germany for his firm and took on Stockmann as a bookkeeper and cashier.

In 1858, Törngren established a shop in Helsinki. In addition to glass from Nuutajärvi, it also sold blast-furnace products from Tampere and soon also products from a flax mill founded by Törngren in Tampere. Stockmann was put in charge of the shop, situated on the edge of the Kauppatori marketplace. From the beginning, the shop operated under Stockmann's name, and in 1862 he purchased it for himself. He widened the range of items, adding cotton and woollen products from domestic factories, chinaware and a constantly increasing assortment of hardware - right up to agricultural machinery. He also began to import products and started in the wholesale trade as well as continuing his retail selling. His range was enlarged by various consumer items such as furniture, drinks, tobacco, clothing and shoes. Although the firm's initial years in the 1860s were particularly unfavourable from an economic viewpoint, Stockmann's business grew steadily. In the early 1870s, the firm had already joined the ranks of Helsinki's largest commercial-sector enterprises.

The growth of the capital was an important background factor in the firm's development. During the time when Stockmann was active in Helsinki (1858-1906), its population grew sixfold. The brisk rate of building benefited the hardware area in particular, and by the early 1870s this had become Stockmann's most important field of operations. In 1880, he moved his business to a corner of Senaatintori Square. The premises represented a novel type of shop building: the display windows were large for the time, customers paid at separate cash desks, the shop had an internal telephone system, and so forth. The range of products consisted of iron, glass, china and textile products. The number of employees was then twelve; by the turn of the century it stood at 32.

In the 1880s, the firm grew rapidly. In contrast, the beginning of the following decade was difficult, as a serious crisis had hit the building industry. As a large supplier of building items, Stockmann suffered significant losses. A number of important properties came into the firm's ownership; one of these brought with it industrial production: the Helsingin Höyryleipomo Oy (Helsinki Steam Bakery Ltd). In the 1890s, Stockmann opened a special shop for products from the Arabia factory, and the sports department, whose most important item had become bicycles, also moved to premises of its own. Since there was brisk building activity in the areas of the city to the north of Pitkäsilta Bridge, Stockmann opened a branch specialising in construction items in Kallio in 1897. The premises at 'Stockmann's Corner' on Senaatintori Square were enlarged; the most extensive enlargement occurred in 1905 - 07, when an additional building was erected in the courtyard.

The range of products also broadened. A newspaper wrote in 1890 that one could get everything from Stockmann's "except books and food". In addition to maintaining a wide range, Stockmann thought it important that his clientele should be offered the latest novelties in various areas. Starting in 1883, the firm also began publishing printed catalogues.

In 1902, Georg Franz Stockmann converted his firm into a limited company. His eldest son, Karl Stockmann, who had then already worked for the company for some fifteen years, became the managing director. G.F. Stockman's youngest son, Frans, joined the company in 1893.