Espoo Shopping

Stockmann are the best department stores in Finland. They have only few stores in Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Turku & Oulu. Oh, but they already expand and have stores also in Tallinn, St. Petersburg & Moscow.
This one picture is from Tapiola in Espoo.

Heikintori is the building in Tapiola shopping centre. It's the first shopping mall that has many different shops located in one building.
Around Heikintori there are several cafeterias, McD, two department stores and a large grocery shop. It's a small beautiful shopping centre; different types of flower arrangements are planted in the neighbourhood of the mall every summer.

What to buy: Anything you need can be bought in Tapiola.

Sello is now open, but still under construction and should completed in 2005.
The second biggest shopping centre in Finland. When ready it will contain about 140 different services and shops. Now (2003) there is just few bars, few shops, two big supermarkets, liquor store ALKO and (the best place I think) a library (open since 11.8.03).

What to pay: Typical Finnish prices.

Sello is a good place first of all because of its location. It is located at the train station of a place called "Leppävaara", which is one of the main stations by the Helsinki train line. You can walk in from the train to the mall.

Also many buses pass Sello. For drivers there are 2500 free parking places.

A place for returning empty bottles and tin cans is organised, and you get a coupon of which sum then is reduced from your shopping bill either in the alcohol store or in one of the big two food stores.

Sello is a big place, enough air. Never to full even if lots of people. I know this is nothing compared to the American megastores, but in European scale this is big, clean and nice.

What to buy: I have bought my digital camera, computer, scanner/printer/copier from a shop in Sello. Some clothes, all my hair stuff and make up stuff. I never have to go to Helsinki anymore (difficult with parking there, more expensive prices, Sello is just 2 kms away from my home).

There is a good big store selling practically anything (but not food) - I've made many finds from there like my home shredder, batteries for different purposes and an inside heater to my car. They even sell fans, heaters for balconies, car stuff, kids stuff (color pens, pencils etc). Kitchen stuff, electricity stuff like wires, cables, plugs - just anything you can imagine. It is always exciting to walk through all the gateways and corners just to check what new they might have now. The name of this shop is "Claes Ohlson".

What to pay: This is really difficult to say - it depends on what you want. Some people just go there for buying their daily or weekend food, some go shopping trendy clothes, some buy computers or lcd tvs; some just come spending time with a friend by a cup of coffee.

Prices are normal Finnish price level; the big shop chains may have good offers (home electronics and secondly, food stores).

Iso Omena is, at the moment, the biggest shopping centre (mall) in Espoo. There are more than 100 special shops, restaurants, cafes, banks etc in Iso Omena. Over 1100 people work there every day. In Iso Omena you can also see different kinds of happenings throughout the year.

What to buy: You`ll find everything from there. In Iso Omena there is also a hair saloon and a dentist. So it`s really like a small village.

What to pay: 2200 free parking spaces, but do remember that only parking is free there. Othervise you can spend as much as you dare.

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Large shopping mall in Leppävaara district, at northeastern part of Espoo. There is more than 160 shops, including Prisma and Citymarket, two hypermarkets. There is a restaurants too, chinese, mexican, hamburger, subway etc. From Helsinki you could easily come by local train. Mall is second largest in scandinavia. Larger is only Itäkeskus at Eastern Helsinki.

What to buy: There is almost everything what you might need.

What to pay: Finland is not the cheapest country in the world, but in this mall, there is shops with reasonable prices.

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This was my first visit to the central area of Espoo. I was pleasantly surprised by the shopping centre, which seemed to have quite a few big name shops and several places to eat and drink.

There were bus connections nearby, and it was all together a pleasant place to visit and do some shopping.

Annabella, one of the hidden gems of Tapiola, is a small fashion boutique located on the second floor of Heikintori, one of the first shopping malls in Finland. If you don't know to look for the place, you probably will miss it. The only clues of its existence are a window filled with fashionable garments on the street level, and a small signs on the second floor.

The store has a wide selection of French and Italian fashion that they import directly from the manufacturers. Most of the clothes cannot be found anywhere else in Finland, and as the design and the quality are excellent, Annabella is a must for all ladies adoring French or Italian style.

The shop sells also shoes, boots, bags and other accessories. The selection is only for ladies.