Imatra shopping centre revives with 30 new tenants in two years

Imatra’s Mansikkapaikka shopping centre has doubled its turnover and cut annual costs by over €100,000 in just two years, Yle reports.

Owners Tuomas Rautio and Joel Mäkelä have signed around 30 new leases since taking over the struggling 1990s-era complex near the eastern border. The centre now hosts a gym, pub, flea market, hair salon, driving school, and healthcare services, many relocated from elsewhere in Imatra.

Rautio attributes the turnaround to tight cost control and a hands-on approach, including personal involvement in renovations and a policy of forgoing salaries. The strategy ensures tenants remain profitable, which in turn sustains the centre.

Local businesses have benefited from the renewed foot traffic. Kaluste Kaakko, a long-standing furniture store in the centre, reports increased sales, including from out-of-town customers. Newcomer Hugo & Helmi café, run by baker Mikko Kenttämaa, has also expanded, opening a candy shop in spring.

Imatra’s development company praises the project as a model of bold local commitment. The city awarded Rautio last year for promoting a positive image of Imatra, noting the need for such risk-taking entrepreneurs.

“You don’t drink champagne if you don’t take risks,” Rautio said.

Originally opened in 1990, the 10,000-square-metre Mansikkapaikka was once Imatra’s largest public building. It suffered from the 1990s recession, competition from other local shops, and the rise of online retail, compounded by the closure of the eastern border, which ended Russian shopping tourism.