Gone for Good

Anttila, a Finnish mid-range chain of department stores founded in 1952, declared bankruptcy abruptly (say that fast five times in a row...), is letting 1,300 employees go and is about to close all of their 31 stores. The estate is now arranging final clearance sales and trying to get rid of everything in order to pay back their creditors. Ironically, these sales have brought huge crowds to the stores despite the discounts not even being that big. TV sets were 10 per cent off, cameras and accessories 20. As the prices were high to begin with, the Olympus body I was looking for was still cheaper on Amazon. And even if the price was a euro or two lower than on Amazon, I wouldn't bother queuing for hours just to get that.

For the last years, I haven't really seen why I'd shop at Anttila and I guess many others felt the same. They basically had the same selection as many other stores but with a bigger mark-up, so if I knew what I needed, I just went somewhere else instead. This even when my girlfriend was working there. And even she occasionally bought what she needed somewhere else, because not even the staff discounts made it worth the trouble.