Our history

Gelia was founded in 1975 in Grästorp, Sweden, where we still have our base. We started out as a regional distributor of products used for temporary electricity at construction sites and soon expanded our operations to include SB bags (Self-service packaging), which made it easy for stores to display products for their customers. SB packaging and consumer information in stores became, and still are, the key to Gelia's successful concept.

A few important milestones in the company's history came about in 1985 when Gelia Industri and Järnia AB signed a cooperation agreement. Cooperation resulted in sales almost doubling over a three-year period.

In 1992, Gelia acquired Critex/Elektropop, a competitor. The acquisition resulted in Gelia modifying its market strategy so that instead of working with one brand, it now had three different profiles in the market – one for the hardware and construction trade, one for the convenience goods trade and one for the electrical trade.

Gelia has been the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) division at Ahlsell since 1996. It was in conjunction with this acquisition that Gelia's 20 years of sole concentration on electrical products was supplemented with a corresponding range in heating & plumbing products. In September, 1997, everything was ready, and the market was presented with Gelia's expanded product range, including both electrical and heating & plumbing products, for the first time.

In conjunction with the acquisition of Gelia Industri, the Ahlsell Group was able to develop its positions in the DIY sector. Today Gelia supplies Swedish specialist stores in the hardware, construction, electrical and convenience goods sectors with heating & plumbing products for both professionals and consumers.

In 2008, vvsinteriör.se became part of Ahsell's DIY division; vvsinteriör.se is specialised within consumer products for kitchens, bathrooms and tiling (interior shops). Five years later in 2013, vvsinteriör.se was integrated with Gelia and the interior concept became part of Gelia's operations.

With its history and current group affiliation, Gelia has reached a market-leading position in the Swedish specialist trade, with the aim and objective of continuing to develop into the 21st century.

Gelia runs electrical and heating & plumbing operations in Sweden, Norway and Finland under the Gelia name. Heating & plumbing operations are run in Denmark under the VVS Trading name. Today the company makes up Ahsell's DIY division, with sales of almost SEK 750 million.