Ullared

It looks like bad weather, and what is better than an indoor activity like shopping in Ullared? Most have heard of GeKås in Ullared, many of you have probably been there. If you haven’t been there yourself, you probably haven’t missed the TV show. GeKås (or popularly known by the city name Ullared) is regardless a truly special destination. A single large department store, with everything from clothes, tools, fishing gear, toys to interior design and shampoo.

But yes, we would well lie if we said that all parts of the family are equally excited with the choice of activity. Martin, even at work, usually quotes GeKå’s CEO Boris when talking about knowing his business. In one episode of the TV series (which we really do not follow, but have happened to see at some point) he says that “After 1.5 hours, the man is the biggest threat to our business”. It is of course a very funny saying, but oh so true.

One should be aware that an excursion to Ullared is an all-day project. Getting through the entire department store, if you are going to have time to look at things reasonably in peace and quiet, clearly takes its time. As a family with children, of course, there will be a lot of time in the department of children’s clothes, as this is actually one of the things that is still quite cheap. Otherwise, the price situation feels quite mediocre. As camper nerds, we also take the opportunity to buy on us some things you to have use in the RV, like toilet paper intended for camping toilets, toiletries, some small things to the kitchen and so on.

Other stores and activities

In addition to GeKås itself, a lot of shops around the department store have grown up, as Ullared has really become a destination. Outside the department store there are everything from shoe stores to electronics stores and hunting and fishing shops. The latter to Martin’s great joy. For some reason, however, he didn’t think that my “Now you’ve gone in your store, so now I get to go in my store” reasoning was an acceptable argument. Apparently it was not “fair” that could trade 20 minutes of fishing shop for 9 hours of GeKås. Strange reasoning on his behalf ;).

Luckily for this family, there is also a wide range of restaurants and cafés. One thing is certain, if we do not follow the food pattern of an infant, with food like every two hours, then an excursion regardless of the theme will not be fun for anyone. Here, however, it is quite easily solved, and also relatively cheap. Martin made an attempt to escape to the sports bar. I laughed at him and said that “you are not interested in sports”, and I got the obvious answer that “nah, but I’m interested in bars”.

Update Ullared:

A few thousand Swedish kronor poorer, impressed by Gekås breastfeeding room on the 4th floor, and Noomie mostly fascinated by the playground on the same floor. Satisfied with today’s not so amazingly unnecessary purchase (best was probably a lined rain gear to Noomie!) and now we go on to Gekåsbyn to cook dinner and camp for the night! Must say that both RV-site and the campsite are some of the most affordable we have ever visited. Extremely well maintained facilities, which must be cleaned several times a day. The standard of the RV-site was almost good enough to qualify as a camping site. The campsite had a huge range of activities and things for the children.

We could clearly imagine going to Ullared and staying at the campsite without even visiting the department store (or yes, at least that what we leave Martin to believe ;)).