Ødegaard was started up on 13 October 1939 by the brothers Nils and Knut Ødegaard, in Hauges gate 8 in Drammen. Here they started with boys’ and men’s clothes. In the late 1940’s, the brothers chose to go their separate ways. Nils went on to sell work clothes, where he also started with shoes. Knut continued with boys’ and men’s clothes under his own company name. Both were still working in Hauges Gt. 8. It lasted like this until 1957. Then Knut bought a property in Hauges Gt. 4, where he moved his business. He had now acquired a significantly larger room, and therefore expanded the product range to also include girls’ and women’s clothing.
In 1954, he takes over the baby magazine Olsen og Ørjansen, where a special department for women with emphasis on larger sizes is started.
Developments and alterations were made both in 1964 and in 1972 on the property in Drammen, which was then completed in 1983 and has a sales area of 1200m 2. In 1968, the first store was opened in Kongsberg, where an ongoing clothing store is taken above. In 1974, another business was started up in Kongsberg, this as a pure fashion store for young women.
In this business, Knut’s son, Bjørn Ove Ødegaard, is given the responsibility, who later becomes the owner of four properties next to each other in Hauges Gt. in Drammen as they see potential in this area of Drammen.
In 1986, it was planned to develop a shopping center on, among other things, these properties, which will become what we know today as Torget Vest, which will be completed in 1997, where Bjørn Ove is a key driver and is actively involved in the design of the center.
Ødegaard then consisted of seven stores and was a leader in clothing and jeans in the area. In recent times, there have been several upheavals and Ødegaard Dame og Herre is now run separately, where the manor is still owned by the Ødegaard family.
Ødegaard Herre currently has 4 stores located on Torget Vest in Drammen, Liertoppen on Lierskogen, Metrosenteret on Lørenskog and Hvaltorvet in Sandefjord.