About Us

Scandinavian Specialties was founded in 1962 as the Norwegian Sausage Company by Mr. Sagland with the goal of bringing its customers the finest quality Scandinavian Foods. Mr. Sagland was a trained butcher from Norway. They operated out of a very small space in Seattle’s Ballard area. Equipment was brought over from Norway to make all the sausages, etc. Mr. Sagland retired in 1980 and the store was purchased by Ruby and Herb Anderson who continued to make the highest quality Scandinavian foods available to the Scandinavian community in Seattle. The Andersons expanded the product line and added the mail order business which opened up the company's line of Scandinavian Foods and Imports to the entire USA. In September 2000 the Andersons retired and the store was purchased by Anne-Lise Berger and Ozzie Kvithammer. They already owned a business that imported food and other products from Scandinavia. This company was known as ScanSelect, Inc., and adding a good quality Scandinavian food retail store was the next logical step. The current owners felt it was time to expand the store and moved to a larger location close by. A small café was also added and now Scandinavian open faced sandwiches and yellow pea soup are served 7 days a week. We offer a full selection of Scandinavian imported foods and in our store you can buy all the homemade goodies as well. The gift items have grown to include Scandinavian Sweaters, Jewelry, Books, Home Décor, and many souvenir type items.

The Fall of 2017 brought new ownership, under Mr. Bjørn Ruud, the son of Anne-Lise. He's honored to further the traditions and great service to Nordic communities and more.