New York in Helsinki

Stockmann's is the premier department store in Helsinki and you can buy everything there. It combines elements of Macy's, Nordstrom's, Target, Best Buy, and your favorite grocery store, not to mention a coffee shop and an ice cream stand. More importantly, it is conveniently a block from where I work, so I have gone there at least twice a week (and occasionally, twice in one day, since arriving.)

However, it has been a little less appealing in the last week or so, since they undertook this extensive new ad campaign for fall. After traveling all this way to experience Nordic culture, Stockmann's is doing its best to indoctrinate everyone into...New York culture. Or, frankly, anything that is associated with the U.S.

This means that the candy area I reliably count on for my Fazer chocolate fix is now filled with Hershey's, Pepperidge Farm chocolate chip cookies, Oreos, and marshmallow creme. The men's clothing area sports Timberland and Tommy Hilfiger. "It's a New York state of mind" by Billy Joel is on constant replay on all seven floors of the store. And enormous ads with "New York" in meter-high letters are everywhere.



I don't know if it makes me a little homesick, or just makes me feel as if I shouldn't have bothered coming all this way. Plus, it is a little sad that a people with access to such absolutely excellent chocolate should ever feel they have to buy Hershey's. What a tragic waste.