World's largest store is in Estonia's neighbour Sweden — in a village of 700

The Swedish village of Ullared, home to just 700 residents, hosts one of the world's largest retail stores, Gekås. Every day, thousands of shoppers flood the tiny village, with up to 5,500 customers inside the store at one time and hours-long queues at the entrance.

In the small Swedish village of Ullared, something extraordinary happens every single day. Despite having a permanent population of just 700 people, the village attracts enormous crowds of shoppers from across the country — and beyond — all drawn to a single destination: the Gekås department store, one of the largest retail outlets in the world.

The scale of activity at Gekås is hard to comprehend for an ordinary shopping trip. Up to 5,500 customers can be inside the store simultaneously, while queues at the entrance can stretch for hours. Families arrive with trolleys already piled high before they've even set foot inside, fully prepared to spend significant time browsing the vast selection of goods on offer.

For many Swedes, a trip to Gekås in Ullared has become something of a cultural pilgrimage — a ritual that combines bargain hunting with a day out. The store's reputation for competitive prices and enormous product range has turned what might otherwise be an unremarkable rural village into one of Sweden's most visited retail destinations, drawing visitors who are ready to drive long distances just to spend their Swedish kronor there.

The phenomenon of Ullared offers a fascinating glimpse into consumer culture, where a single store can effectively transform the identity of an entire community. For Estonians — who share a close geographic and cultural connection with Sweden — the Ullared experience is not entirely unknown, as Estonian shoppers have also been known to make the journey across the Baltic to experience this retail giant firsthand.