The story
On 1 January 1873, Karl Kastner and Herman Öhler founded a shop for mercery in Troppau (today: Opava). When Karl Kastner was held up in Graz in 1883, he strolled through the town and found a free shop in the Sackstraße. He rented it, and it became the location of the company. The company was the first in Central Europe to introduce fixed prices, and to run a mail order service. They sent catalogues in several languages to customers throughout Austria-Hungary.
The branch in Zagreb was founded in 1879. Over the years, the store in changed addresses, until it ended up in Ilica 4.
In 1894, the company expanded and built the first department store in Austria-Hungary in Graz, with galleries on three floors, which could be reached by elevators, and a central courtyard with a glass roof. The store was expanded from 1912 to 1914 by the architects Fellner & Helmer from Vienna who had already built the Graz Opera. They designed one of the most advanced warehouses in Europe, with air conditioning and a room for refreshments. The Große Halle was decorated with a coloured glass dome. Before World War I, 330 employees sold hats, perfumes, leather goods, paper and men's clothes. In 1917, additional products were toys, household goods, china, glass and stoves.
From Wikipedia’s article on Kastner & Öhler, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5