BGA: our story

This is a story about transformation and expansion. A thrilling tale that begins with a small local family-owned business in the Swedish city of Gävle which today is a large e-commerce company expanding at an explosive pace across Europe. A lot has happened through the years and there have been many changes but one thing that has remained a constant since the company’s conception in 1993 is our receptivity: the ability to listen to and understand what the customer is looking for, sometimes even before they know it themselves. Combining that ingredient with a bit of daring, a relentless focus on quality and an unwavering belief in our products, has given the company its recipe for success. This is the story of BGA.

Prologue – The little family-owned company
The year is 1993; the city is Gävle. Bengt Andersson starts BGA Video Production (BGA Videoproduktion), a local business focusing on the production of information films and the transfer of cine films to VHS. Towards the end of the 90s, the demand for transfer and conversion services increased dramatically and these services became a much larger part of the company’s operations.

Chapter 2002-2005 - DVD is the fashion
In the 2000s, the demand for film transfer to DVD completely exploded which allowed us to grow our still modest local business. At this stage, Björn Andersson stepped in to work full-time at the company and invested in new equipment capable of producing the quality and quantity we wanted to offer with regards to the transfer from videotape to DVD.

Chapter 2006-2007 – The bright lights of big cities
In 2006, we made new investments that gave us the opportunity to create our own machines for the transferring of cine films. Machines that would meet our high demands for quality whilst being easy to use. 2006 was also the year we started to look outside Gävle and opened branches in both Stockholm (Lidingö) and Gothenburg. We also hired our first employee for our Gävle office from outside the family. Kristoffer Sjölén still works for us today as head of our production unit responsible for all types of digitalisation.

The demand for slides and photo services grew and, by the autumn of 2006, we had expanded our services to include this as well.

In April of 2007, we opened the doors of our branch in Malmö and in October of the same year, we opened our second branch in Stockholm, this time in the Hammarby Sjöstad area.

Chapter 2008 – With the whole of Sweden in sight
We wanted to be able to offer our services to more people throughout Sweden so, in 2008, we expanded our home delivery service to cover fifteen different areas. We also moved into fresh new premises in both Gävle and Gothenburg.

Chapter 2009 – A megametre of cine film
2009 was one of many eventful years when we further expanded our popular home delivery service. This time we offered the service to the whole of Sweden and at no additional cost. We also decided to close our outlets on Lidingö and in Hammarby Sjöstad in favour of a branch located in Stockholm’s Östermalm area. From there, we were able to offer shorter delivery times and more attractive opening hours. 2009 was also the year we became a limited company, BGA Video Production AB (BGA Videoproduktion AB). Over the year, we managed to scan a total of 1,000,000 metres of cine film: a record which would later be utterly smashed.

Chapter 2010 – The company grows in all directions
In 2010, we expanded our business further to include digital photo development. In addition, we opened two completely new shops, one in Stockholm and one in Norrköping. Our Malmö outlet moved to a new location in the centre of the city, which meant that we could offer better opening hours there as well. In Gävle, we had outgrown our 320m2 premises and moved to a new location a few blocks away.

Chapter 2011-2012 – More modernisation
We took the opportunity, in 2011, to buy two existing photo shops in Jönköping and Sundbyberg. Our shop in Gävle, which has previously shared a location with our production facility, moved into its own dedicated retail location in the centre of the city. In the same year, we began the modernisation of our shops and extended our opening hours even further. This work continued and intensified during 2012. 2012 also saw the beginning of our separate business, called BGA Photo Centre (BGA Fotocenter), where we develop and enlarge pictures.

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New Chapters in the story of BGA
BGA Video Production (BGA Videoproduktion) grew and flourished with new outlets opening all over Sweden and our investments bore fruit time and time again. But fortune favours the bold and the biggest milestones in the story of BGA were still to come. In parallel with the original business, a sideline was begun focusing on photo frames and albums; BGA Photo Store (BGA Fotobutik). These products provided the opportunity to explore new ground, namely the internet.

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Chapter 2013 – An online shop is born
The internet seemed to be an exciting place with unending possibilities, even for a company based in little old Gävle. An online outlet was launched at the turn of the year with the first orders actually arriving on New Years Eve 2012. Stylish yet affordable frames were the main focus and interest in these products proved to be enormous. Frames in slightly unusual sizes and colours became extremely popular and we quickly understood that there was a gap to fill in the market.

Chapter 2014 – E-commerce needs more space
Interest in our frames continued to grow and, during the year, we more than double our number of online customers. 2014 was an intense year during which we broadened our product range with great enthusiasm and at a furious pace. Unsurprisingly, this led to us quickly outgrowing our existing warehouse space and having to expand in order to make room.

Chapter 2015 – E-commerce begins to explore the Nordic countries
With two great years as an e-retailer behind us, we really began to find our feet. It was time to look across our borders and establish ourselves online in Norway as well: a goal which was realised November 1st 2015. Earlier in the spring we noticed that, once again, our storage capacity was becoming insufficient so the hunt for larger premises began once more. The benefit of experience meant that this time we focused on premises that would be able to handle some potential future growth (because things went so well!). By the end of the year, we had found our new home and the move took place in the spring of 2016.

Chapter 2016-2018 - E-commerce goes through a development phase
With the move to new premises, we had room to grow! In the years that followed, we broadened our range of photo frames and began to search for potential new products with which to complement our frames. Stylish and trendy posters and prints seemed especially suitable - and so it was. The desire to explore even more of the world grew stronger too and a new Finnish sister site was launched. In 2017, we broadened our range further and brought in a wide variety of stylish mirrors in all colours, shapes and sizes. During the same year, we also entered Denmark and discovered a market where our products were really appreciated. Establishing ourselves in four markets was certainly not to be sniffed at, but the world outside the Nordic countries still beckoned.

Chapter 2019 - E-commerce changes name and style
BGA Photo Store (BGA Fotobutik) changed its name to BGA.SE and along with the name change came a completely new garb and graphic profile but this wasn’t the only thing to happen during this eventful year. A wealth of new exciting products filled our online shop and the warehouse space had to be expanded to a full 5000m2. 2019 was also the year we celebrated passing 200,000 online customers since our e-commerce began.

Chapter 2020 - E-commerce and a pandemic
The pandemic struck and everyone had to spend more time at home. This complete change of lifestyle increased people’s focus on interior design and the shopping began. We expanded at breakneck speed and opened e-stores in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Austria. Our range continued to grow and lots of new on-trend products were added. The warehouse space was expanded and e-commerce passed the milestone of 400,000 online customers.

Chapter 2021-2022 – E-commerce continues to expand
The rapid expansion gave us the opportunity to explore a new range of products more detached from what we had previously offered. However, we soon realised that new doesn’t always mean better. Instead, our full focus should be on what we’re most passionate about and where our true expertise lies - with frames! The storage facility was expanded once more, this time to a not so modest 8000m2. The expansion into the European market continued and BGA began trading online in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Switzerland and France. Another site was also launched - bgaframes.eu - giving customers in even more countries across Europe the chance to enjoy our first-class products.

We have a long way to go before the epilogue and there are many exciting chapters still to come in the story of BGA. Be a part of the story and check out our impressive range of frames to suit all styles!