Helsinki’s vitality | Could the “field market” revive the core center in Helsinki? The idea is gaining support

Could you one solution to increasing the vitality of Helsinki’s core is to be a traditional “field market”?

The idea has proven to be successful in Tampere, and it will not be dismissed in Helsinki either.

To Tampere the sales of Prisma, which replaced Sokos Herku in the city center, have clearly increased compared to before.

Hypermarkets are actually being opened in more urban areas than before, confirm the representatives of the S and K Group in the capital region.

Peltomarket refers to large grocery stores, large units, i.e. Prisms or K-citymarkets.

Could such a business also open in the center of Helsinki?

“Of course”says the regional director of Southern Finland Mika Sivula Premature birth.

Urban-style K-citymarkets are already close to the heart of Helsinki, for example in Ruoholahti and Pasila.

There would certainly be demand for the huge selection of hypermarkets in the center as well, Sivula estimates.

“But the problem is that it is very challenging to find large enough unified business premises in a densely built center.”

Kesko is constantly surveying whether a location for a hypermarket could be found in the city center area. K-citymarket would require nearly 10,000 square meters of retail space, which would preferably be uniform. In addition, the transportation connections should be in good condition.

If such a nugget of gold fell into Kesko’s hands, it would still be years before the opening day of K-citymarket in the center.

Before you could even build a store, you would have to go through various real estate, planning and permit matters.

Hok-Elanton property manager Jyrki Karjalainen is more cautious in his assessment.

You can hardly get Prisma in the center, he says.

“Helsinki’s core is not completely ruled out, but it is extremely difficult.”

According to Karjalainen, the problem comes from the fact that Prisma’s concept includes the idea of ​​a large central purchase.

“And when the average purchase is large, the main way of doing business is to travel with your own car.”

In terms of driving, Karjalainen especially considers that the accessibility of the city center by car has weakened due to numerous road construction sites.

Helsinki the management is also ready to discuss with store chains about opening a large Ruokakaupa in the center.

“If there is a demand for it and it is a service that is wanted, the city will try to make it easier,” says the director of Helsinki’s urban environment Ville Lehmuskoski.

The director of land use in Helsinki agrees Rikhard Manninen.

“Chain stores are looking for good locations, and of course we are always ready to discuss.”

Although Prisma would get an even smaller space, the basic problem with the center of Helsinki remains: the parking space usually required by large units directly in connection with the store is not currently available in the core center.

Currently, approximately 8,000 square meters of Prisms are being built, where the daily and consumer goods departments can be divided into two floors, says Karjalainen.

For example, the new Prisma in Tampere fits into a rather small space. Similar ones in Helsinki include Prismat in Tripla in Pasila, Lippulaiva in Espoo and Myyrmann in Vantaa.

A more car-friendly city center is hardly in sight even after the completion of the temporary construction sites, HOK-Elanton Karjalainen thinks.

“The center should be developed in such a way that there are fewer cars there. This is needed not only for climate goals but also for comfort.”

Karjalainen believes that even when talking about the Esplanade, the center of Helsinki will revive, but its commercial importance will change: trade will move more and more to the regional centers on the edges of the center.

Private driving taking into account other modes of transport is realism when planning hypermarkets, Kesko’s Sivula also points out.

“Of course, there are plenty of parking opportunities under the center of Helsinki, and it is being developed. It’s not a bad situation in that respect. But we still have to decide where those cars are allowed to move on the ground or even underground.”

Karjalainen of Hok-Elanton also thinks the rent level in the center is too high.

“It’s worth remembering that Prisma is a price-driven concept and Prisma’s ability to pay at least the current rents in the city center is not possible.”

One a possibility could also be the development of the underground world of the city center for commercial activities, thinks Rikhard Manninen of the city of Helsinki.

So what would be a good place for K-citymarket or Prisma in the center? Could, for example, Stockmann be changed to such?

Neither city’s management is going to name individual places in the center where a large grocery store could possibly operate.

Lehmuskoski says that he does not want to create preconceived expectations for certain buildings.

“If there is a need, then solutions can be found either with new construction or conversions [eli muuttamalla olemassa olevien rakennusten käyttötarkoitusta]. The starting point is that demand is met if there is demand, but this requires a more thorough investigation.”

To the same at a time when large grocery stores are showing interest in the center of Helsinki, the discount store chain Normal is already expanding its operations there and small specialty stores are closing.

Are we now on the brink of some kind of transition, where the nature of the city center changes from high-class services to more everyday cheap shops?

Neither Lehmuskoski nor Manninen recognize such a change. In the light of the research, there is still demand in the center for, among other things, restaurant and cafe services.

Now the city is trying to increase the experiential nature of the city center so that it can better compete with shopping centers for people’s time use.