I HAVE A GOOD OFFER Dear employees, suppliers, family, friends, collaborators and everybody else who receive this book It’s now 25 years since I had the ”crazy” idea of starting up a chain of bedding shops – based on the concept of giving customers a good offer. Many people thought this was a bit naive. Especially when you hardly had a penny to your name. But now, 25 years later, I can conclude that I succeeded. In 2005 JYSK will reach 1000 shops – distributed in 18 countries and with a turnover of more than DKK 10,000 million… and still going strong, attempting to find even better offers… And, indeed, with a new international name. As of 2nd April 2004 we will simply be called JYSK – although Germany and Austria will continue with their popular name: Dänisches Bettenlager. To me our jubilee is such a red-letter day that I have chosen to celebrate it with all of Denmark. All households – about 2.4 million – are to be sent this book as a greeting – and as a thank you for their help. After all it is them who have helped realise this fairy-tale and, So, everybody should have a chance to read about it. Many people might think that now he is certainly suffering from delusions of grandeur – the dear Mr Lars Larsen – and that may be the case. However, I do hope and believe that most people will read the book because they are interested in a piece of the history of the Danish retail trade. In order to give everybody an insight in JYSK’s history, and mine I have chosen to publish it in 8 languages: Danish, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Polish and Czech. Throughout the years the press has described Lars Larsen, JYSK and Larsen Travel for ”better and for worse” – although mainly for the better – and I have felt fine about that. However, on the occasion of this silver jubilee I have chosen to write my own version – for ”better and for worse” – although mainly for the better… Many people will probably also conclude that Lars Larsen seems to have had more failures than successes. And that is probably true. However, as long as the failures are smaller than the successes, it is not all that bad. In my 25 years as an independent businessman I have always lived by the philosophy that if you do not dare to take any chances, you will also not have any chance of making a name for yourself. Or as a wise man once said: ”Nothing ventured, nothing gained”. Lars Larsen 5
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