Business Gone Bad Part I

It is the first evening of my tour. I’ve checked into my hotel and had dinner with my hosts. Of course I asked for some recommendations about abandoned places in the area. I was already familiar with most of them, but one of them was new for me.

But the first one wasn’t, as it had made national headlines for a long time. It was built in 1989 (a great year, by the way) as the first shopping mall in the region with independent storeowners. Back then it was something great and new.

In the early days, top national chain stores occupied the premises, but years didn’t treat it very well. The city where it was built has been losing population heavily for years now. Also the location of the mall isn’t very good, as it is on the outskirts of the city center.

As early as the early 2000’s it was becoming more and more difficult to find tenants. Back in 2011 the investor, who owned the mall, considered demolishing it as old fashioned.

In 2014 the mall celebrated its 25th birthday. Back then there were eight companies remaining. The beginning of the end came two years later when the department store, which occupied the entire second floor of the building moved to bigger premises outside the city center.

In 2019 the mall was bought by celebrity businessman Jethro Rostedt, who had risen to fame through several TV programmes starting with the Finnish version of ‘The Apprentice’. In early 2020 he claimed to be negotiating with several notable potential tenants.

No new tenants appeared. In late 2020 the existing ones left, when electricity and heating were cut off due to unpaid bills. The rumour has it, that as the basement is located below the surface of a nearby lake, the parking garage has flooded after the electric pumps were shut down.

In 2021 Rostedt claimed, that he didn’t own the mall, and had sued the party, which sold it to him. At the moment he runs a kebab restaurant in Fuengirola, Spain, and is being charged for several tax frauds in Finland.

Oh, but I did say, that there was a building…

And it wasn’t exactly difficult to find.

I’ve probably never seen anything as 90’s as this in my life since the early 1990’s. Considering that the building was built in the late 1980’s, it was really, really advanced at the time.

Looks like the mall has even had a terrace of some kind. And looks like it doesn’t have a single intact window. No, wait, there’s one.

I believe, that the logos and name of the mall have never been rebranded.

Telering was a mobile phone store, which hasn’t existed since 2005.

Watch out for falling glass. This is a very rare warning in Finland.

The final list of companies on the wall. The second floor was reserved for the department store. The first floor had quite a lot of vacant spaces.

This side was a bit more intact.

Ok, enough of a walkaround. Maybe it’s time to move inside.

And so I am inside. This is what I would once again call a big catch.

The first business space was fairly large, but also empty. Which ever company had occupied it, had done a good job cleaning after them.

Moving forwards in the cramped and destroyed corridors of the building.

The place really was in its original shape. Everything was like it was back in 1989, when it was very modern.

Another, light business space. But what the hell happened with the floor?

The amount of broken glass inside was just amazing. It was everywhere. And as you can see, I was again properly equipped (not).

The center of the mall was again very light thanks to a glass roof. I actually understand the principles of the architecture of the building, although it was pretty ugly from the outside.

But before we go there, let’s explore another corner of the building.

A statement made by one of the unauthorized visitors referring to the businessman I wrote about earlier in this post.

Another fairly large business space. The bubbling of the floor is evident even here. This is just a guess, but maybe it has been caused by frozen pipes.

The stairs up to the department store. Again, I understand and fully agree with the design of this building. It just hasn’t lasted time very well.

Even here there were big boards promoting the businesses in the building.

The sign points to the nearest exit, but I’m not ready to exit yet. And I’m also not ready to move upstairs yet. There’s a lot to explore downstairs in the following post.