Odel (stylised as O▷ΞL and ODEL) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

retail company, the first in Sri Lanka. Starting out as a single company focusing on the retail garment trade, Odel developed over the years to become the first department store in the country.

History

The company started when Otara Gunewardene began selling factory surplus garments and apparel from her car boot to family and friends in 1989. Gunewardene registered Odel (the name is based on her own name, Otara Del Gunawardene) as a private limited liability company on 31 October 1990 and the company opened its first store on Dickmans Road in Colombo. In 1994 they opened their second store in Majestic City and by 1995 the company had a total of nine stores located in city hotels and shopping centres throughout Colombo. In 1996 Odel opened its flagship store in Alexandra Place, Colombo, which was further expanded to in 2000. In 2005 the company opened a store in the departure/transit lounge of Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake, as a part of an initiative in conjunction with the Airport Expansion Project. Odel opened two more stores in Kohuwela and

Ja-Ela Ja-Ela (, ) is a town, located approximately north of the city centre of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Ja-Ela lies on the A3 highway (Sri Lanka), A3 road which overlaps with the E03 expressway (Sri Lanka), Colombo – Katunayake Expressway at the Ja-Ela I ...

. In 2009 they opened a further three stores in

Nugegoda Nugegoda () is a large, densely populated suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is located just south of Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte and north-east of Dehiwela Mt. Lavinia. It has a population of over 250,000 people. Education Schools in the region ...

Mount Lavinia Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia (; ), population 245,974 (2012), is a large municipality in Sri Lanka, covering . It lies south of the Colombo Municipal Council area and is separated from it by the Dehiwala canal which forms the northern boundary of DMMC ...

and

Moratuwa Moratuwa () is a large municipality on the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka, near Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia. It is situated on the Galle–Colombo (Galle road) main highway, south of the centre of Colombo. Moratuwa is surrounded on three sides ...

. The following year the company opened another three stores in

Panadura Panadura (; ) is a main city in Kalutara District, Western Province, Sri Lanka, Western Province in Sri Lanka. It is located approximately south of Colombo. Panadura was an electoral district in Sri Lanka until 1989 and is surrounded all sides b ...

Maharagama Maharagama is an outer suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka on the High-Level (A4) Road about from the centre of the commercial capital. It developed rapidly in the 1980s as a dormitory suburb. Governed by the Maharagama Urban Council, the town possesses ...

and

Battaramulla Battaramulla is an Urban Area under the administration of Kaduwela and is situated from the Colombo Fort, near the Parliament of Sri Lanka. It is one of the fastest developing administrative, commercial and residential areas in the Colombo Dist ...

. On 24 February 2010, it was converted into a public limited liability company and in July Odel became the first fashion retail business to be listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. In 2012 the company opened stores in

Wattala Wattala (, ) is a large suburb of Gampaha district , in Western Province, Sri Lanka, situated around 9 km from Colombo city centre. This suburb is situated on A3 highway from Colombo to Negombo. Around Wattala, there are many villages and t ...

, Kiribathgoda and in the Kandy City Centre shopping complex, the first store outside the

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

. Odel also launched Luv SL - a concept store carrying stylish souvenirs and products catering to locals and tourists - opening Luv SL stores at the Queen's Hotel, Kandy and the

Old Colombo Dutch Hospital The Old Colombo Dutch Hospital (known as ''The Dutch Hospital'') is considered to be the oldest building in the Colombo Fort area dating back to the Netherlands, Dutch colonial era in Sri Lanka. It is now a heritage building and a shopping and din ...

shopping precinct. In July 2012 Parkson Retail Asia Limited purchased a 41.82 per cent stake in the company for Rs 1.424 billion. In September 2014 Gunewardene sold her majority shareholdings in Odel PLC to the Softlogic Group for LKR 2.7 billion. Softlogic has subsequently increased its shareholding and on 30 June 30, 2016, it held a 96.67 per cent stake in the company.

References

External links

Company website
{{All Share Price Index Companies listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange Department stores of Sri Lanka Shopping malls in Sri Lanka Retail companies of Sri Lanka Retail companies established in 1990