The traditional store chain has a losing streak – The owners have a good account –

Eastern Finnish department store chain Carlson sold its hardware business to RTV-Yhtymä last year.

It was about selling a very traditional business, as Carlson has had hardware stores since 1859.

Carlson is owned by siblings Alice and Pekka Halonen. They also own the Halonen clothing chain that bears their name.

Despite the sale, Carslon has a losing streak. However, the Halonen siblings made a nice account last year.

The tax information released on Thursday shows that Pekka Halonen’s income last year was 112,922 euros in capital income and 16,143 euros in earned income. Liisa Halonen’s capital income was 224,410 euros and earned income was 15,033 euros.

Sisters Liisa and Pekka Halonen photographed for Iltalehti’s article in 2018. JUHA BROTHER JOKINEN

A family business

The Halonen siblings have their roots in Karelia across the border, where their father went Kalle Halonen founded Enso haberdashery and tailor shop in 1932 with his brother in present-day Svetogorsk. They also had a clothing factory in Vyborg. After the Winter War, the Halones moved to Kotka and the company’s name officially became Veljekset Halonen. Halonen’s headquarters moved to Helsinki in the early 1970s.

Already affected Kotka before that Kalle Halonen bought the entire stock of Carlson from Kuopio for himself in 1964. Carlson, a traditional retail and wholesale company, was founded in 1859, when the company already had a hardware store.

Iltalehti approached Halonen’s siblings at the beginning of the week. Liisa Halonen answered Iltalehti’s questions by email. When asked what it’s like to run a family business with her brother, Liisa Halonen answers: a family business is a way of life and an interesting one in that respect.

According to him, becoming an entrepreneur is not a given, even if you are a descendant of a family business.

– Yes, it’s good to make your own decision.

To the taste of Finns

In the corporate transaction, the operations and employees of Carlson’s six hardware stores located in Iisalmi, Joensuu, Kuopio, Mikkeli, Savonlinna and Varkaue were transferred to RTV-Yhtymä. The properties remained with Carlson.

After the sale of the hardware stores, Carlson still has department stores at its main location in Kuopio, Mikkeli and Joensuu. In Kuopio and Savonlinna, Carlson has Euronics home appliance stores and a home store in shopping center Jumbo, Vantaa.

Liisa Halonen says that Carlson focuses on fashion, footwear, economy, home, home technology, sport and leisure products.

Carlson is Halonen’s sister company. According to Liisa Halonen, the sister company helps with the acquisition of the product selection, so that the price-quality ratio is suitable for the customers.

– We want to make available products designed and manufactured especially for the taste of Finns, says Halonen.

Carlson has a losing streak

Carlson is on a losing streak. Despite the sale of the hardware store business, Savon Sanomat reported in September that the Carlson Group’s operating loss had increased to 5.3 million euros and the turnover fell by more than 10 million euros to 37.1 million euros.

Carlson has made an operating loss for five fiscal years. The last time the company made an operating profit was in the fiscal year that ended in April 2018.

The new owner of the Carlsons, RTV, is a privately owned specialty store chain for paint and surface material products.

RTV is not doing particularly well either: after the acquisition, RTV has had several change negotiations, and at the beginning of October, the company with a background from Riihimäkä filed an application for restructuring proceedings in the district court of Pirkanmaa. Last year, RTV made an operating loss of almost nine million euros.