Company's introduction

Offical requisites
Rautakirja Estonia AS
Põikmäe 2, Tänassilma küla, 76406 Saku vald Harjumaa, Estonia
Phone: +372 6336000
Fax: +372 6336081
E-mail: info@apollo.ee
Reg. code: 10406134
VAT number: EE100173455
Swedbank: SWIFT HABAEE2X, account number 221013182477
Nordea Pank: SWEIFT NDEAEE2X, account number 17001212521

Apollo Raamatud is the leading book-sale company in Estonia founded in 1998. The roots of the company lie in the former bookshop “Teadus” in Tartu that was privatized by the IT-company Astrodata in 1995 and thus, book-business and technology found a fertile union in the book-branch of Astrodata in the second half of 1990-ies.

Apollo Raamatud as a separate company was founded as a spin-off from Astrodata in the summer of 1998. Until November 2003 the company name was Astro Raamatud. In 1999 Astro Raamatud purchased a book-shop in Pärnu and since then the business started to grow and develop more rapidly. Another big step forward was entering into the mail-catalogue and internet sales businesses at the end of 1999. This brought Astro Raamatud also to Tallinn. In October 2000 60% of the shares of the company were acquired by Suomalainen Kirjakauppa OY, the biggest book-sale organisation in Finland. In August 2003 Suomalainen Kirjakauppa obtained the rest of the shares and hence Astro Raamatud became a subsidiary of the Rautakirja Group which plays a leading role also in the Estonian cinema business, as well as in kiosk and newspaper distribution businesses.

A major change in the market position came along with the opening of Apollo Raamatumaja, the biggest book-shop of Estonia in the centre of Tallinn in December 2000. This step put the company clearly among the top book-sale organisations in Estonia and created a good ground for becoming the market leader in the country. With the development of wholesale branch in 2001 Astro Raamatud started to provide advanced operating services to several big shopping centres in Estonia becoming their basic book-supplier. With the introduction of the new internet sales-environment www.apollo.ee in the autumn of 2001 Astro Raamatud gained leadership also in the Estonian internet book-sales.

Today, Apollo Raamatud is a modern sales institution with the main emphasis on retail business through Apollo brand – with 9 contemporary book-shops (Tallinn, Tartu, Pärnu and Rakvere) and the Apollo internet portal available to our clients. Besides, shopping centres and their servicing is a growing branch that has also helped to expand the market itself and to give customers more opportunities to buy books. Apollo Raamatud annual sales in 2007 reached 12 million EUR, the company employs over 100 people.
1. mai 2010 14:41