I grew up shopping at Sokos department store in Helsinki. Needles to say, that on my visit back…read morehome, I did some shopping there. On the first week of September, I stopped at the cosmetic department looking for a certain Finnish facial creme, Lumene, for my friend back home. Luckily they had it. When completing my shopping and paying for my purchase, this wonderful sales associate, Pirjo, helped me. She was very friendly and professional, and took her time to assist me. Pirjo even helped me to make my purchase with a gift card and gave me a sample of a new perfume. Throughout the years Sokos has maintained it's high customer service standards. It's a very clean and well organized store. I can highly recommend a visit to this shopping adventure.

This place is a mixer. The first floor is ALL cosmetics and skin care. The bins are all sale…read moreitems...and there are quite a few of them. The second floor is ladies clothing. This store is not really for the younger crowd. It's mostly for the late 40s and up group of women. The store is clean and well organized. But I noticed it was hard to find someone to assist me.

I wish Eurokangas would have Store card, special savings and also special accounts for business…read more Service is good in some stores and some are great.

This is one of my favourite bookstores in Helsinki. I love to climb the ladder and peruse the…read moreoverhead shelves where I can find books on Nordic and Sami history. As I do read Finnish I am never at a loss for finding rare and reasonably-priced books. The selection is vast so I never stay in one area as I am always looking through the entire store. There is one bookshelf devoted to books on language, and not just the Finnic languages. I am eagerly awaiting my next visit to the store in August of this year.

This bookstore is pure magic. The scent of ancient books hits you the second you walk in the door…read more This haven has it all: East Asian philosophy books from the 70s in brilliant condition to communist essays with the pages clinging to their spines by a thread. This store just has the uncanny ability to make you appreciate the minds behind novels, as it doesn't rely on selling greeting cards or calendars. It's just novel after biography after poetry anthology after historical encounter - and I'm sure for Finnish speakers the collection is even vaster, but as an English reader I was still overwhelmed with titles to thumb happily. I snuck into this shop purely to avoid the torrential Helsinki rain and left feeling renewed and excited about the secrets of the universe.

I've been both buying and selling there since it opened and my experience over the years has been…read morevery positive.. Akseli is an upscale flea market - people bring their wares in and sell them used for 1-2 week periods. They are all given 2 bookshelves (one with shelves, one with clothes hangers). The shelves and store are neat, orderly, clean, and very upscale. The items offered also tend to be better than what you find at the local low rent kirpputori. For buyers, you'll find great items at good prices. Come Saturday or Monday for best selection. They accept credit cards and there is a small changing room to try on clothes. For sellers, it's a good place to make money off used items. An average week sales for me (mostly childrens toys and clothes) would be around 800e. Be prepared for shrinkage, though, since they don't seem to be doing much about rampant shoplifting. Several times I saw people walk out with item unpaid - or trip the security alarm and the sales clerk just holds her hand out while the person takes out the stolen item from her purse and hands it to the clerk then leaves. That was depressing to see as a seller. Their seller rates are ok - though they will be charging a percentage of sales in November in addition to the weekly rate. For the extra money you'd make over the local swap meet, I think the extra cost is justified. 4 stars for cleanliness, decent customer service, and an upscale way to purchase used items. 1 star less for serious issues for sellers with items disappearing due to shoplifting.