A First-Hand Account of Second-Hand Helsinki

My goodness, but Helsinki has woken up! With the first rise in temperature and rays of sunshine, a new energy and vibe has hit the city and its environs. The temperatures are nowhere near what Ireland has experienced during the past couple of weeks. It reaches a high of about 17 degrees at best these days and is there is still a bit of a chill in the shade, but the brightness lasts from about 5am up to 10pm and there is a real sense of energy in the air.

We bought a season pass for City Bikes Helsinki (which started on April 1st and runs until October 31st) and we intend to explore more of the city by bicycle in the coming weeks and months. On our bike ride yesterday we saw that all around the coast near us in the many small harbours and beaches, families are removing the tarpaulins and getting their boats of all sizes into the water. There are actually 327 islands, big and small, off the 130 km of Helsinki's shoreline and every second family seems to have a little cabin or a favourite camping spot on at least one of them.

In the city's many parks and green spaces, people are walking, jogging, cycling, playing football and beach volleyball. So many ice-cream and coffee vans have popped up everywhere. I keep wondering where all these people were and what they worked at during the winter months. Walking up through the Esplanade on Saturday evening, there was a stage with live music, a 'Flower Parade' fashion show by Marimekko and many buskers and street entertainers.

As the city has re-awakened, it urged me to go on a hunt in the second-hand shops for some summer gear. When I am in Dublin, I volunteer in my local Vincent's (a charity shop where the profits go to the excellent Vincent de Paul charity). As a result, I am always looking out for new ideas, ways of displaying the products and, needless to say, in search of a bargain. Shopping at second-hand stores, charity shops or thrift shops as they are also called, is environmentally-friendly. I won't lug suitcases of 'stuff' over and back to Ireland and I will donate back any items still in decent condition at the end of our time here.

In Finnish, thrift stores are called 'kirppis' or 'kirpputori' and they range from charity shops such as the chains of Fida and UFF shops that accept donations to those that are operated as a business such as the Kidia second-hand stores. In those shops, a person who has clothes/goods to sell, organises to book a sales session with the shop and brings the goods along during that slot. The clothes must be in perfect condition, washed and ironed and they also must be in season. They are only accepting summer clothes at the moment, according to their website. They do not accept ultra-fashion (like Shein or Bohoo) or counterfeit accessories. Kidia puts a price on the product and puts them for sale in one of their shops for 18 days and keeps a 50% commission on sales. Anything left unsold can either be collected by the seller or donated for recycling.

This system certainly would stop the people who dump their old, unwanted broken and unsaleable items to charity shops. I know that, despite our best efforts, we get many such 'donations' into our shop and it costs St Vincent de Paul time and money to dump their rubbish. The golden rule is, if you wouldn't expect someone else to pay money for it, then bring it along to your local recycling/rubbish depot rather than bringing it to a charity shop and expect them to pay for its disposal. I will certainly be bringing the idea of putting up a sign such as this in our shop in Dublin!

Another great idea I saw was a second-hand section within 'ordinary' shops. I've seen this in bookshops in Ireland such as Bantry bookshop where there is a great second-hand section at the back of the shop, but I haven't seen it in clothes shops. This sign is in a PO.P baby/kids clothes shop in the nearby shopping centre.

This notice translates as 'We accept and sell used Po.P clothes in our stores. Our goal is that each of our clothes would be used by at least three children. That is true accountability.'

There is a thriving second-hand market here. I believe there are rarer Finnish vintage objects available at specialist dealers such as Artek 2nd Cycle and Kruuna. I will need to check them out!

In the meantime, I have bought a straw summer hat for €4, swimming gloves for €3 and a pair of sandals for .... €75. That doesn't sound like much of a bargain, but, in my defence, they are a pair of 'good as new' sandals designed by Minna Parikka and they cost €130 new. A photo of them is the banner image of the post. I hadn't heard of this designer previously but apparently celebrities loved her Bunny Ear sneakers. She lives in Helsinki and the assistant in the Kidia shop in the Aiona Centre told me she drops into the shop sometimes. Maybe she'll see me sporting her distinctive sandals on her next visit to the shopping centre.

I've just read on her Minna Minna shop's website that when the sandals are worn out, I can return them to their warehouse and get a €50 credit for my next pair. My 'worn out sandals will be given to our partners in Spain, who will remove any metal parts and then grind the rest into small particles to create a new material that can be used as an upper or footbed material for future MINNA MINNA shoes.' Now I'm even happier as I can argue they really only cost me €25!