Biltma is an interesting jack-of-all-trades hardware store, sort of what you might get if you put a…read moreHome Depot / Lowe's together with, say, an auto parts retailer and an outdoor supply store, along with some marine tools and gear. To say they are a jack of all trades, but master of none, is pretty much the best way to sum up the experience.
It was once put to me that in Denmark, the Biltema stores are essentially what Harbor Freight has become in the US, and I think the shoe fits pretty well, but not necessarily in a pejorative sense. Yes, most of what they sell is low cost, low quality "made in China" fare, but I have to admit that at least they have a breadth of selection that rivals Harbor Freight, and they are definitely a higher class store, with better organization and layout, not to mention product management and cleanliness.
That said, they are also completely unpretentious. Unlike their domestic counterparts, the aforementioned Harbor Freight and similar stores in the US, nobody at Biltema is trying to convince you that they are top quality tools, or better than other, more expensive brands. They don't do outlandish sales literature and over the top advertisement and they don't give out free, throw-away/garbage tools and other loss-leader items to get you in the door. If only discount tool retailers in the US would follow suit. One can dream, right?
This particular location, located centrally in Odense, the largest city on Fyn, is actually quite an impressive sight. It's a large, open but well thought-out layout and has a pretty efficient checkout system, even when they get busy. Even as a tourist, the handful of times I've stepped into this place, I've never struggled to find my way around or get what I needed. As we found out this year doing some Christmas shopping for family, it turns out they even have a pretty good on-line inventory system that tells you, down to the isle, where to find the items on your list. Not too shabby!
Another interesting tidbit is that they are co-located, literally in the same plaza, as a Bauhaus store. Those are the equivalent of Home Depot or Lowe's in the US, so you can imagine it is somewhat odd to see them nearly side by side. I think it works because they really don't compete at all or carry any of the same tool brands, and Biltema really doesn't cater to the building trades in terms of raw materials, nor do they have, for example, a garden center or cater to the home-improvement crowd.
Depending on what you're looking for, Biltema can be an interesting stop. If nothing else, it's worth checking out for the contrast to Bauhaus and to get a feel for what the implementation of a Harbor Freight type of store looks like in Scandinavia. It's a shame that similar stores in the states are not nearly as well executed.
