A customer putting bags of groceries into a shopping cart at the end of a register in Sello Shopping Centre in Espoo on Saturday, 15 February 2025. YLE on Sunday reported that some shoppers have prepared for this week’s retail strike by stocking up on key food items, such as bread and fruits. (Emmi Korhonen – Lehtikuva)
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THE RETAIL STRIKES starting today had an evident impact on the purchases of Finns on Sunday, according to YLE.
Shoppers at Prisma Olari in Espoo stated to the public broadcasting company yesterday that they stocked up on key food items, such as bread and fruit, in order “not to have to think about grocery shopping” in the coming days.
The strikes will occur in two, partly overlapping phases. Logistics workers started their four-day strike this morning, while retail workers will go on strike for four days on Wednesday. Service Union United (PAM) has reported that about 70,000 workers and managerial staff will participate in the strike at about 3,000 retail points, including all Lidls, K-Citymarkets and Prismas.
Sampo Päällysaho, the head of grocery trade at S Group, told YLE yesterday evening that it is possible that some individual items can be low in stock in the coming days.
The retail giant, however, has not detected any nationwide changes in consumer behaviour in the days leading up to the strike. He pointed out that the high number of customers in shops in southern parts of the country in the past couple of days may also be explained by the looming winter holidays.
“Some holidaymakers take food with them to the cabin and ski resorts,” he said.
Some shoppers, he recognised, are naturally preparing for the unusual situation this week. “Shops will receive completely normal supplementary deliveries during the course of this evening and night, so there’ll be plenty of items on the shelves also tomorrow [on Monday],” he assured to YLE.
Päällysaho also reminded that shops will be open as usual today, revealing that the plan is to not deviate from usual opening hours also later this week.
The Finnish Commerce Federation has similarly assured that retailers have prepared for the strike as well as possible to limit the impact on customers.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
