[The story of K.V. Tjellesen]

This is the story about a Danish pharmaceutical wholesaler. The story begins in 1909 in some basement rooms located in Vester Boulevard 42 (which was later to become the Boulevard of H.C. Andersen) in Copenhagen. The founder of the company, pharmacist Knud Valdemar Tjellesen, lived in the very same building. In the beginning, the company mainly sold chemicals and produced and sold chemical-technical products. In 1930, K.V. Tjellesen became the proprietor of the pharmacy Sct. Johannes Apotek situated in Fredensgade 5, Nørrebro in Copenhagen. The company then moved into some offices that were located just behind the pharmacy. Already in 1918, K.V. Tjellesen traded pharmaceutical specialties, which were imported, to a certain extent, from Germany through a purchasing office in Hamburg. In 1938, the son of Knud Valdemar Tjellesen, pharmacist Paul Tjellesen, joined the wholesale company charged with the primary task of intensifying the sale of the company's international agency products. At the same time, the general partnership K.V. Tjellesen was founded. In the time leading up to the Second World War and during this time, business was of course complicated by currency and import restrictions, and it was very difficult to make deliveries to the pharmacies. In Copenhagen, the articles were delivered by 10-12 bicycle delivery boys. In the beginning, the wholesale company mainly catered for Copenhagen and Zealand, but due to the excellent performance of Paul Tjellesen, more and more customers emerged in the rest of the country. In 1954, the company moved to Niels Ebbesens Vej 29 in Frederiksberg given the need for larger facilities. In 1963, an increased space requirement, once again, forced the company to buy one of the neighbouring buildings on Niels Ebbesens Vej and H.C. Orsteds Vej. For many years after, H.C. Orsteds Vej 22 was the official address of the company. After more than 45 years in the company, Paul Tjellesen agreed with his son-in-law Peter Schøller-Larsen to undergo a generational change. The company was changed from a general partnership to a limited company (Ltd.) on January 1, 1985. At that time, the company's market share was below 3%. Peter Schøller-Larsen had developed a new concept for the company, which involved offering the pharmacy proprietors the opportunity to become share-holders in the company. Along with the newly appointed sales director, pharmacist Peter Clemmensen, a third of all pharmacies in the country received a visit from the company, and more than half of the proprietors accepted the offer and became shareholders in K.V. Tjellesen A/S. This resulted in a rapid influx of new customers and an increasing turnover. Once again, the company was running short of space, and on July 1, 1991, the company moved to Brandstrupvej 4 in Rødovre. At the same time, the trade with pharmaceutical specialties in Denmark was rearranged resulting in a significant increase in the company's stock of goods. In the same period, the number of pharmaceutical wholesalers was reduced from 5 to 3. At the end of 1993, the company decided to take on SupplierService as well. Again, this resulted in the need for more space, and an extension to the buildings on Brandstrupvej was built in 1994. In 1996, new storage rooms were added at Meterbuen in Skovlunde. In 2001, the business area SupplierService developed the area Storage-Hotel, where paramedical products are stored and distributed to other customers than the pharmaceutical wholesalers. This took place when the storage capacity at Meterbuen was further increased. In 2004, the existing bounds at Meterbuen were yet again passed, and at the end of the year, two new and large storage halls were put to use by Tjellesen. These two halls form the StorageHotel. In 1985, Tjellesen had a turnover of approx. DKK 70 million and employed 20 persons. In 2004, Tjellesen generated a turnover of nearly DKK 3 billion and employed 126 persons. From basement rooms measuring 200 m2 in Vester Boulevard to a three-address group situated in Rødovre and Skovlunde and taking up 21,000 m2, the history of Tjellesen has been somewhat of a fairytale. But it did also take place in the native country of H.C. Andersen.