Finland Times

 

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Small groceries have found ways to survive supermarkets like Prisma, Citymarket or Lidl. A common way seems to be specialising in some specific fields. 

 

Deiman Mohamed, who worksin Asian Mini Food MarketatLapinkävijäntiein Rovaniemi, next to the shopping centre Revontuli, said, “Our selection is mainly Asian and Chinese food. We order our products mostly from Sweden, but also from southern Finland.”

 

He saidthe store is only two-month old, but customers have found it well.

 

“Our customer base is very broad. Finns and foreigners are all interested to buy from here,” said Mohamed’s colleagueMarafHeiui Fars.

 

FTimes Photo.

Though it is still hard to tell what the customers exactly want from Asian Mini Food Market, according to Mohammed and Fars,so far spices and sauces have been a hit. The store has a wide repertory of those Asian cousin ingredients which can’t be found at big supermarket’s small Asian stands.

 

“It is not easy to compete with big supermarkets,” states Tarja Vesala, owner of VesalanLuomu, adding, “We don’t compete with prize. Our strength is the speciality in our repertory and quality.”

 

But, Vesala points out, “The sad fact is that when times are financially hard for people, a very common way to tighten one’s belt is to try saving money, while doing the groceries shopping.”

 

FTimes Photo.

VesalanLuomu is located in the shopping centre Rinteenkulma. The shop is now three years old. VesalanLuomu specialises in organic food and offersingredients for special diets, for example,for celiac disease, which are hard to find.

 

Describing how carefully they choosethe repertory of products and labels, Vesalasaid, “We have both big and small brands, but choosing them carefullyhelps us to have high quality in our products.”

 

Johanna Töyräs, a salesman atthe coffee and tea shop Mandragora, too, thinksmaintaining quality and putting in efforts in choosing the products on racks are definitely important and will gain consumers’ trust.