Crazy Days!

Stockmann's, the main department store where everyone in Helsinki seems to shop, goes out of its way to prove that a Price Club/Costco outlet in Finland would make a killing.

Twice a year they host "Crazy Days" for Wed-Sat, where literally all of Helsinki turns out to shop at Stockmann's and try to save a few euros.

Rather than mark down things in the store (though there is some of that as well), they instead truck in large quantities of lesser brand names and sell them off big pallets on their ground floors (sound familiar to any Costco shoppers?) To help stir people into a frenzy, they also advertise bargain-basement travel deals and other attractive sales, fill the store full of friendly and unrattled salespeople, and blanket the store with the signature bright yellow of Crazy Days: signs, bags, clerk aprons -- it's all done up in Big Birds' signature sunshine color.



I walked past on the first day they were open at 8:30am, thirty minutes after Crazy Days started, and literally saw a stream of people flooding out of the store with their yellow bags. These were the smart ones who tried to avoid the crowds. I wasn't able to get a good picture because trying to extend my arms away from my body during the busy times wasn't an option, so I could only snap a few pictures near closing time.