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Lisa was born in 1894 into an impoverished fishing
family living at "Låga Ryttartorpet" on the island
of Muskö in the southern part of the Stockholm archipelago. Fishing was the backbone of life, although sea conditions were sometimes harsh, there was also an abundance of prime fish and shellfish in our waters, which seems almost unimaginable by today's standards. In search of fish fortune Lisa, who was a bright girl with self-confidence, took her inherited knowledge of fisherfolk and the fish they caught with her to seek her fortune in the Royal Capital. At the tender age of only sixteen she began her career at Fiskarhamnen on Munkbron in Old Town. After only a few years - in 1926 - Firma Lisa Elmqvist had its own shop in the prestigious Östermalm Saluhall Market Hall. Today the vocation has been passed on through four generations - from Lisa to her son Hans, on to her grandson Christer and her great grandson Ulf, who today carries on the proud traditions of his great grandmother. |
It was written in the stars that Lisa Elmqvist would become a fishmonger. She was born on 24 July, 1894 on Muskö, where she was raised on fish and fishing when she was little more than an infant.
Her forefathers came from "Låga Ryttartorpet". They were poor people who lived largely on the fish they caught at Tuppudden off the island of Muskö in the Stockholm archipelago. Her paternal ancestors had been more or less captives during the Russian occupation after Charles XII, but at least the Russians obliged us at Muskö by dredging the channels, thus making the waters rich in herring. And it was herring in particular that would in due course contribute towards Lisa's indisputable success as a fishmonger in the Östermalm Saluhall Market Hall. Even as a very young woman she had already started to work in the fish harbour where she learnt how to deal with the headstrong Roslagen people like Mr Sjöblom, Sjöblom from Norröra was a rough fisherman from the archipelago with the ugliest Roslagen temper ever encountered, but when he bargained with Lisa he was as gentle as a lamb.
1910
By 1910 the resourceful Lisa Elmqvist already had her own stall on Munkbron. From 1920 onwards, after a decade rich in experiences, she also worked for a short period behind the fish counter at NK.
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Six years later, in 1926, Lisa bought her own shop in the Östermalm Saluhall Market Hall. It was here that she established the beginnings of what her colleagues were later to describe as Europe's finest fishmongers. In due course, Lisa learned to tone down the language she used towards her customers, but if a fish wholesaler ever tried to palm her off with old fish he could expect a proper telling-off in the rough dialect of the archipelago people. Incidentally, this was the year when the first electric train departed from Göteborg for the capital city. Only one year before a certain Greta Gustafsson had applied to the King of Sweden for permission to assume the name of Garbo, and the year before that the newspapers had declared in bold headlines: "He made it," in reference, of course, to Charles Lindbergh, the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic.
Lisa opened her shop with two employed assistants and - in accordance with the times - a delivery boy called Enar. Despite the mobile nature of his job he was certainly not a drifter and he stayed on until his retirement. In the end, there was not a single repair or conversion job that Enar, with his life-long experience of Lisa's business, could not manage.
In the early1930s, large quantities of prawns were sold for 7 or 8 öre per hectogram. Sometimes the price could rise to as much as 12 öre per hectogram, which raised the customers' temperatures and lowered their interest in buying. Those were the days when the price of lobster was 3.00 to 3.50 kronor per kilo. Today it is hard to believe in such prices, but that's what they were!
1930-talet
Time passed, the scars from the Kreuger crash began to heal, as did the mood of revolt in the wake of the shots fired against demonstrating forest workers in Ådalen. Governments came and went and signs of storm clouds to come emerged in Germany. Lisa bought three new shops in Stockholm; on Röda Bergsgatan, Malmgårdsvägen and Valhallavägen. The time had also come to retire the handcart and replace it with her first motorised form of transport.
Lisa understood the benefits of acting quickly. As an archipelago girl she had valuable knowledge about the Stockholm archipelago. Her popularity was also such that she could easily persuade the archipelago fishermen to come straight to her in the Östermalm Saluhall and sell the best of their catch. Fish of similar prime quality from the West coast she bought direct in Göteborg.
1940-talet
At the beginning of the 1940s, Lisa sold her shops in town and concentrated on the shop in the Östermalm Saluhall. She also brought in her son Hans as a part owner. From his mother he learnt everything he needed to know about how to become and remain a successful fishmonger. And it was no easy job. At that time there were no machines for gutting the herring, for example. This was done by hand. It took a couple of men all day to gut 250 kilos of herring for delivery the next day, which was not an unusual order from the navy or the air force during the war years. Her ability to handle this type of delivery was one factor behind Lisa's success.
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By 1945, Eriksson & Andersson, owners of the shop next door, had become tired of their trade and sold their shop to Lisa after pressure from her son Hans. He was a firm believer in the development and future of the fishmonger's trade, despite the tough years of the 1930s, which were certainly not a time of plenty for a fishmonger, nor for most of the Swedish people. Aside from the general level of unemployment there was also intense competition from the "chain" stores of the time. At the Östermalm Saluhall much of the competitive pressure came from a large company known as Förenade Livs, which had a number of sandwich-board men on its payroll who walked around the city streets carrying placards advertising the prices of FL's fish and shellfish. Often these prices were below what Lisa had to pay for her wholesale purchases. Chain stores were no angels, even then.
1950-talet
In 1951 the time was ripe for yet another addition to the team. That was the year when cousin Marianne came to the city from the archipelago. She had a unique talent for displaying fish on the counter in a way that really made the customers' mouths water. And her dexterity with a salmon knife could make even a cellist in the Royal Opera Orchestra green with envy.
Two new delicatessen foods, lightly salted salmon and smoked salmon, were introduced in 1952. Two years later, in 1954, Lisa Elmqvist converted her business into a limited company.
Otherwise, business continued as usual at Lisa Elmqvist AB. In the early sixties the staff grew tired of cutting ice blocks by hand and using old-fashioned ice counters. These ice blocks weighed no less than 42 kilos and cost 3 to 4 kronor each. The new counters that were purchased were constructed in such a way that they could be topped up with water at the end of the day and then - abracadabra - the following morning there was a vast bed of ice on which to display the fish.
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Now the time had come to further strengthen the staff. After finishing school, grandson Christer joined the company in 1963, which meant there were three generations of Elmqvists behind the counter. The shop became a little cramped, but this was swiftly taken care of by taking over the licences to four more stands and expanding the shop's premises.
Lisa retired rather abruptly in 1968 following a family row. The legendary lady lived on for another ten years.
The shop was expanded to include an oyster and shellfish bar where customers who had dropped in to shop could taste the many delicacies from the sea prepared à la Lisa. Although she herself had now retired, her experience, knowledge and much-loved recipes lived on within the unique company that had been her life's work.
A new delicatessen counter was later set up in front of the shops. The Östermalm Saluhall was renovated in 1975, and given new floors, large kitchen areas as well as cellars that provided large fridge-freezer and general storage areas.
1980-talet
Ulf, a representative of the fourth generation of Elmqvists, has been working for the company since the early 1980s. Hans Elmqvist retired in 1985.
In 1986 the business was expanded to include additional stalls, and the oyster bar was converted into a fish restaurant. This means that Lisa Elmqvist is no longer only a fishmonger and supplier of fish to the country's most prestigious seafood restaurateurs, but it also runs one of the country's most prestigious gourmet fish restaurants. With its own fresh produce, recipes and unique background, it regularly ranks amongst the very best in the newspapers' restaurant reviews. At the same time, the market hall is one of Stockholm's most stimulating places to eat. To have lunch or a snack surrounded by the finest fresh produce is an experience that not even the food metropolis Paris can match these days. The atmosphere in the Östermalm Saluhall is very like that of the former Les Halles. Lisa Elmqvist exploited this wonderful atmosphere by starting to arrange large functions for anything from 15 to as many as 550 guests.
In 1988 Lisa Elmqvist was able to take over a porter's lodge, which was turned into the company's offices. This was a much needed change, since the administrative workload of the company had increased considerably during all these years.