Reaction To Finnish Supermarket Prisma 

Can't believe this dude went to a finnish supermarket and skipped the dairy section...

As a Finnish person, this gives me a whole new perspective on these supermarkets. I noticed thinking after hearing your comments and the ones in the video that I have really taken them for granted. We don't usually go to any special stores and we don't even have too many of them. Not here in the Lapland at least. If we need something specific, we order them online. But usually, everything you could possibly need can be found from these supermarkets and the quality is usually pretty good. Or at least decent. The prices are super high, though. And increasing all the time. I remember so many things costing less in the past. Things I started buying because of their lower price, but are now the same price as the more expensive product was back then. And there's no longer much cheaper options. They are all expensive 💸

Yes, alot of people go to Prismas and Citymarkets to buy everything. The thing is they don't only sell their own brands, they have alot of other branded things for example sportswear they have nike, adidas, puma etc. For outdoors equipment they also have alot of name brands. So you don't really need to go to a special shop if you aren't looking for something special.

Prismas and Citymarkets are called "hypermarkets" in Finland. The supermarkets are smaller and just offer groceries and daily consumption items, like in most other countries.

Obviously tropical fruits are imported, but things like lettuce, herbs, potatos, onions and carrots are almost exclusively domestic. When it comes to tomatos and cucumbers there are sometimes alternatives imported from other EU countries, but most people prefer the domestic ones even if the imported ones are cheaper.

As a foreigner living in Finland, the coolest thing about Prisma, is that they are part of S-ryhmä, and the company have also smaller markets as S-market and Sale, S-bank, restaurants, hotels, gas stations and many other business. It employs more than 300,000 people, and DOESN'T HAVE SHAREHOLDERS. It's a cooperative, so if you pay 100 euros, you become part of the cooperative and, depending on how much you have spent in their businesses in a month, you can get up to 5% cashback, so if you spend around 1000 euros per month on gas, food, restaurants you'll get around 50 euros back, which might not seem a lot but basically you become a shareholder of the company and get some of the margins that they are charging, back. What they profit during the year, they reinvest in the company. It's very cool system and before the inflation I was usually shopping here, but lately I use Lidl more, as their prices are much cheaper.

Ever since it was brought over from Germany in the 1730s the potato has been the Finnish staple, like rice is to asians. There are different varieties of rice used for different dishes and so are there different varieties of potato. Hard and dense varieties for oven, medium dense for boiling, softer varieties for mashed potatoes, etc. You can make mash from the "medium" potatoes for example, but it's just not going to have the right consistency or taste :) We have institutions continuously researching the properties of different potato strains, their resilience to diseases and growth properties with different fertilizing strategies.

You mentioned dirty fruit and vegetables in Malaysian shops. I'm not sure what you meant specifically, but potatoes SHOULD really be stored unwashed. Washed potatoes spoil much quicker, and same goes for carrots and probably for many other root vegetables. But I understand you don't necessarily want your fruit to be too dirty.

Yes its very common (Prisma or Citymarket). Two major chain have pretty much duopoly (KESKO and S-Ryhmä) and theres a smaller german chain called Lidl but it only has around 10% of the market. Those three are pretty much the only foodmarket chains operating in Finland. It lacks competition. Prices have risen substantially after the war started, i feel like 20-50% depending on the goods, but now the prices seem to be coming back down a little.

Prices have increased a lot. Also as a point, Prismas aren't really supermarkets but rather hypermarkets (in some countries they would be called car markets). Also I am kinda sad that they missed the dairy section... ~150 different cheese alone - precut, uncut, varieties, imported/handmade cheese etc. It's easily 20-50 meters of shelf just for cheese. It's nothing spectacular but there is a lot to choose from. We produce huge amounts of produce in general, but things like salmon are usually imported, however processed in Finland. Easily 4 to 10 different varieties in potatoes, washed and unwashed. Oh, funny thing about these potatoes, carrots etc that are locally producet: At best the stuff hits the shelf within a couple of hours after leaving the farm! So that's why we could sell washed potatoes, generally they are shipped to stores like every other day'ish, depending on how much it gets sold. Same thing with eggs - we have local chicken farms that supply our stores with fresh eggs - of course we have the big operators as well that are found on practically every food store in the country. And much of the stuff is very clean in sense of additives, since it's generally frowned upon to hit too many additives to stuff, even more so than what EU wants to limit.

I have taken Prisma and Citymarket for granted.. 😅 it's just always been like that.. they are all pretty much identical.. and as you leave, there's usually a locksmith, a shoemaker etc, pharmacy, cafe, a restaurant, flower shop, kiosk and a bank under that roof too.. independent businesses.

11:32 These bigger supermarkets have basically something for every category you can imagine. It's just that those special stores have a better selections. For example you can search for hiking boots from Prisma. You find some options from couple outdoor brands and Prisma's (or S-group's) own cheaper products. But in special store you just have much better selection for every specific conditions etc. And it is like that for everything. For sum up TLDR: Prisma can fill your needs for almost everything on entry level but after that you propably search your goods from somewhere else.

Sorry there wasn't presentation about dairy and bread sections. They are here in Finland very different from other parts of the world. Lot of local brands and varieties.

Finland produces pretty much all the root vegetables sold in stores. Cucumbers and tomatoes too. Most fruit comes from Spain and other EU countries. Apples might be the only fruit that can be regularly found locally produced. During the summer months we also get lots of berries that are grown here

Yeah that's a typical Prisma, part of the cooperative chain. Foreigners in Finland are often surprised to see these well stocked hypermarkets, even in a relatively small towns (like in the video). Many are even open 24h. I guess we Finns are kind of pragmatic people, we like to get our stuff in one place :) Unfortunately not always easy for small businesses...

5:00 Finland does produce a lot of certain vegetables and fruits (potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, apples and berries), but especially in the winter domestic produce is pretty expensive, because it has to be grown in greenhouses. Imported stuff is usually cheaper. More exotic fruits (like bananas, pineapples etc) are always imported, because growing them in here wouldn't be commercially viable.

Finnish supermarkets kind of started from the establishment of the Citymarket in Kupittaa, Turku. After a lot of time and competition the K-chain and the S-chain have established these different store tiers (with Prismas and Citymarkets being the largest ones) and they are globally very high quality and their operations are handled really efficiently logistically. The K-store in Järvenpää was selected as the best grocery store in the world (IGD) in 2019.

Regarding the potatoes and strawberries: Nordic countries have a shorter growing-season for them, so not as much harvest. But they get much more sun during the summer-days than more southern climates get, so they get tastier

Those rucksags you pointed to are made by Savotta. Savotta manufactures military-grade equipment for civilian use. Prisma sells products from quality brands to the chain's own cheap products

Basically every city in Finland has a Prisma and a Citymarket (competitor) and yeah "normal" people buy everything from the supermarket but if you are taking a sport seriosly then maybe you buy your bike for example from a bike strore. There are Prisma own brand products but they also sell like adiddas and nike and so own.

This supermarket was pretty big. This big markets are not in every town or village, but I'd say, that 95 % of the inhabitants are so close to this size supermarkets, that they can visit there daily. I have a feeling that some people in the Northern Finland (Lappland) visit this kind of supermarkets only few times a month. Smaller groceries are everywhere.

Prisma is the brand that the "S Group" (one of the two big grocery store companies in Finland, the biggest rival is a company called Kesko) uses for their bigger stores. Most cities have one or two Prismas and a lot of smaller stores owned by the S Group. The prices in Prisma are typically along the cheapest in Finland for identical products. This specific Prisma is the oldest one in Finland, originally built 1972 but the actual building is no longer the exact same building as the year 1972 model. The current building is from year 2016 and it was built next to the original to keep the business going during the construction. The outdoor parking lot is now at the position of the old building. There's also the whole building sized underground parking space that is free to use. I used to do our grocery shopping in this very same store and being pretty picky about quality of food, I was still selecting only the best of the best from those potato offerings, too. This specific store is pretty big, 22000 square meters for the area that customers can access. Finland is under snow for 4 months every year so Finland imports majority of all fresh food. And yes, people purchase sports equipment and clothes from supermarket pretty often. In fact, I purchased my latest indoor sports shoes from this specific store because after visiting practically every sports store in the city, this store had the shoes that best fit my surprisingly wide feet. For sports equipment and clothing, the selection is that that wide but the quality is often pretty good if you happen to find the type of product you actually need. The prices for sports equipment and clothes are about average or slightly below average compared to other stores.

When I moved out of my parents' place, my mom drove me to Ikea and Prisma and I was set for absolutely everything. The only problem with such a big store is that it takes monstrously long to get your shopping done, so I prefer the smaller grocery stores for my daily shopping and leave my Prisma visits for when people are coming over or if I need something other than food, such as laundry stuff. I feel like they are often very conveniently located: I don't have a car and I can count on a bus taking me there and back. Then again, I live in one of the bigger cities so this might not be the case everywhere because public transport convenience/quality/price varies by location quite a bit. In any case, a great store I've been taking for granted.

All Prismas are big, but this one in the video is particularly huge. Not every Prisma is going to have a salad bar or furniture. But it seems they all have fresh produce, clothes, sports equipment, electronics and most things you can think of. Something about the salad bar though, that is something that is common in Finnish restaurants. It's common for them to have a salad buffet that comes free with any meal. It's essentially a healthy snack you can have while waiting for your main course to be brought to you. Some restaurants may have free after-meal coffee as well.

suomalaisia ei vois vähempää kiinnostaa mikää supermarket, mut heti ku joku ulkomaalainen reagoi siihen ni "Torille" :DD

Their selection is flexible as well, depending on location. If a hypermarket is in a shopping centre next to an outdoor/sport store, there may not be outdoorsey stuff at all. If there are no hardware stores in the area, they might carry some tools etc. It really depends on the location. They are kind of trying to complement their surroundings, again in the spirit of practicality as well as business. Personally I prefer specialized stores for most everything, but sometimes Prisma has a good price on a specific item, so worth checking out. And sometimes it is convenient to just pick up what you need while shopping for groceries anyway. Often the non-edible selection is indeed on the price-conscious and planned obsolescent side.

Prisma is in plenty of countries, here too. Yes Prisma is premium store with somewhat compeditive prices. 🇪🇪♥️🇫🇮

Yes, the prices have gone up pretty dramatically here in Finland. Between 2019-2023 for about 30% on average. Sometimes it feels more like 40-50% increase in 3 years, especially in meat pricing. Salary development has been much, much slower and lower, so everything is much more expensive now than what it was 3-4 years ago. I used to buy chicken and beef 4-6 times a week 3 years ago, nowadays almost never. Maybe 4-6 times a month if I can find a good sale. There are 71 Prisma centers in Finland currently. Any city area has at least 1-2 Prisma centers, major cities anything between 4-6 Prismas.

Prismas and Citymarkets range from quite large to huge. More than 150 of them in total across the country. Both have some own brands for pretty much every category, but they offer quite a bit of bigger/more common brands. Especially in food the own brand product is often produced by one of the regular brands, they order a massive quantity of some one thing, like a pack of the most basic oat meal, and get the price point low.

most of the fruits are exported so they are more pricier than vegetables, but most of the everyday vegetables like salad, tomatoes, cucumber, potatoes etc. are grown in Finland and are relatively cheap. Take note that fruits aren't still expensive as you could think, it's all going about the time of the year so for example oranges are cheap during the wintermonths when we have a high supply from the countries that grow orange, but during the Finnish summer the supply is lower so the prices tend to get pricier as well (winter orange: 1€/kilo, summer orange: 3€/kilo).

Yes, in Finland there are also sports stores, clothing and shoe stores, electronics stores, etc., so you don't have to buy everything in big supermarkets. In general, large supermarkets have a good selection of food and drinks, except for alcoholic products, because the sale of alcohol in grocery stores is currently restricted in Finland, which in practice also includes Prismat and Citymarkets. Grocery stores are not allowed to sell drinks containing more than 5.5% alcohol at all, at least not yet. although, for example, we are trying hard to get wines on grocery store shelves as well. The selections of electronics, sports equipment, clothes, etc. in supermarkets are generally quite limited, so it's better to buy them from specialty stores, at least if you're asking for an opinion.

Prisma and K-Citymarkets are the big ones. Their smaller ones are S-Market and K-Market which has only food and everyday products mostly. Then there is LIDL as mid ground to both but closer to the S and K -markets.

At one point I thouht this looks really familiar, then he said the name of the city, and I realised that it Is indeed my local market :D

Relatively funny story about those salad bars. Since the price of salmon has gone up recently, there's been news that people have been hoarding smoked salmon and other some ingredients (like shrimps and avocado) from salad bars because the price per kilo is much cheaper than buying it from the fist/meat counter. It's been such a problem that some places have stopped offering salmon in the salad bars.

The Prisma he visited in this video was actually the very first Prisma which was opened in Finland in 1970's, and I believe its also the largest? You can find a Prisma pretty much anywhere, even smaller cities.

They sell branded high quality clothes, hiking gear etc *and* their own cheap alternatives as well. Even the branded ones are usually priced a bit lower than in specialiced stores, but you're not likely to get as good and knowledgeable service obviously, if you get service at all. But if you know what you're buying and want it a bit cheaper, it's the place to go.

I live within a 10 minute walking distance from a Prisma. I always buy my groceries there, and it's convenient that there's a small selection of everything available there. It's actually in a shopping mall but I rarely visit the smaller stores. If I need something that I don't want to buy from Prisma, I buy it online. In the city, the parking lots are underground so it's still convenient to shop by foot.

I don't visit Prisma's very often as nearest one is over 20km away from where I live, but thankfully Prisma is owned by the "S-Ryhmä"(or in English "S-Group"), and the customer bonus system they have works in their S-Market stores too, not to mention the ABC-gas station chain that also is under "S-Ryhmä" brand. More you spend with them, you get some of that money back next month through the bonus system.

Trying to answer most of the questions, and adding some more info, so this will be a long comment. As a Finn, I thought our supermarkets were just like everywhere else... until I went to live abroad. We have basically two really big chains that have 3 levels of shops (small, mid, large). Prisma is the large tier, from the other chain, there is K-Citymarket. There are several other smaller chains, too, but not as big. We used to have two more quite big chains, but they were bought out. In many countries, I cannot find an equivalent to the biggest tier, and in Montreal, I was wondering that is there a "secret" place I don't know where people did their grocery shopping 😅 I think we had a price shock in the spring of 2022, and after that, the prices went back down a bit, and have stayed on that level. 80% of all the food consumed in Finland is produced in Finland, a much higher percentage than in many other countries (compare to e.g. Sweden's 50%). I think there are multiple reasons, but perhaps a big reason is that we've had some big famines in the history, and also because of russia, Finland was left without the Marshall aid after WWII, again facing scarcity of food, and also having to pay reparrations to russia (for a war they started unprovoked), so Finns could not afford to buy food, either. So being prepared for food shortage is a part of our prepper mentality. Our climate in the winter can be quite harsh. The upside is that it is a natural pesticide, so we don't have to use nearly as much toxins. Non-organic food can here have lower levels of toxins than organic food in some other countries. Also due to the shorter growth season, the plants don't grow as big, but I feel like the flavor is concentrated for that reason. Paper industry is also big in Finland, so a lot of the paper products are produced here, which probably also affects the prices. But I think the price of wood has increased (energy crisis maybe playing a part in there, as it is also used for bio mass, and also Ukraine and Russia are big producers of wood, so that pretty likely has an effect on it). Super markets have usually some of the same brands for sports and camping as the dedicated stores, too, so the prices can be cheaper. But you have smaller selection and the clerks are not able to help you as much. For appliances, interestingly, the super markets are almost always more expensive than electronics shops (economies of scale probably). And indeed, if you live in rural area, you can go to just a handful of shops in the city and get everything. This is what we did when I was a kid - a few times a year we went to a city and got like 80% of the stuff from the super markets (or rather hyper markets actually that they are called). There were some things of course bought from specialized shops, but malls were not yet a thing in Finland. A few things that were missing from the video that differ to many other countries. Breads - especially dark breads, anything not a toast type of bread. One of the first things I miss when I'm abroad. We have a huge variation of dairy products. Almost everywhere else it's UHT "milk", Yoplait youghurt like substance and very limited selection of very expensive cheeses. Here we have so many different fermented dairy products, cheeses (reasonably priced), ... Also there's a big selection of microwave meals. It's always interesting to see familiar things through somebody else's eyes :)

This Prisma was in Jyväskylä, which is a regional capital in central Finland. It's still a fairly small town, but serves as a centre for larger surrounding countryside, whence people probably come to buy their stuff. The ones here in Helsinki aren't generally that big and don't offer such wide variety of products, since we've got plenty of specialized stores for that purpose. They're still plenty big and offer wide range of daily groceries, as well as the other stuff and for relatively reasonable prize.

Prismas are usually in bigger cities. Since they are so big. Smaller version of that is S-market (same chain) and then smaller is Sale. In my town there is S-market, Sale, Citymarket and K-market (Citymarket and K-market is the same chain, just different size).

also the bonus system in this chain is good, they actually pay u money every month, and u can raise this bonus even when u buy gasoline from abc or st1 chains. We call it "green card"

Prisma means prism in english. Even the logo is designed around a prism.

2:22 the prices have been rising in the recent years a lot. Right now a week's worth of food for 2 people would be around 70-90 euros, while years ago it was around 50.

These hypermarkets are like malls without the different stores walled off. Ofc the clothing and electronics sections are a bit smaller than you'd have in a dedicated store, but the nice bit is having the convenience of all those things in the same place. And I suppose it's also convenient logistically, but I do not enjoy walking a mile inside the store to get a carton of oat milk. Really have to map the place out beforehand and have a plan of attack so you don't end up hiking back and forth all day.

I moved to live from Finland to Bangkok recently and one thing I like is that finally I can buy fresh rambutan. In Finland the 'rambutan' in the supermarkets are usually instead of red-green, they are brown and dry. They are in a state where they would in the producing countries be tossed in the bin already, but in Finland they cost an arm and a leg still in this state. Same applies to coconuts. Very often out of five coconuts three or four have been dead inside, so I stopped buying them in Finland altogether. I understand that the logistics of transporting them from far away is not simple and that makes them how they are. Only in some Asian food stores they have been able to get rambutan in still decent condition, so I buy them from those stores when back in Finland.

He missed to show the milk products section. It is huge. 😀Finns love potatoes. 😊 Prisma you can buy almost everything you need in your life. (Maybe not cars... ) Some people buy clothes and shoes from Prisma. I think mostly the quality is pretty good. Its mid range. If you want high quality or cheaper products you go to somewhere else or maybe online.

Salad bard used to be in range of 10-12€ per kilos and now they are 15-17€. All food prices have gone up, I think they have cut some more pricy stuff from selection to keep the price per kilo from blowing up.

The sushi bar is also common in different markets/super markets nowadays. It was there, too. I do prefer to go to Prisma if I want to buy normal everyday clothing or shoes. They have lots to choose from, so it makes one stop shopping easy. They have top brand goods, as well as good quality own brands, in everything. So you do not actually have to pay more for top brand products, if you do not wish to do so, because you do not loose so much in quality. It is just a matter of choice.

Every imported foods are so expensive in Finland. And Prismas and Citymarkets are common here. The vary in sizes. There are supermarkets and hypermarkets

I've noticed the same thing travelling from the US to Italy to Thailand that the grocery stores have nowhere near the variety we're used to here in Finland. From Walmart to other giant ones in the States the fresh produce like cheeses and meats were just pitiful on comparison and I was expecting the opposite. One big reason is that historically we are a poor nation so not much eating out and now the wages and other costs are rather high so eating out is quite expensive so most people make their own food most of the time. It also makes the variety so huge since we don't have such a strong local cuisine, but steal from other countries so there's nothing unusual about a normal finnish family making decent thai food, italian, greek etc during the same week and very specific things like lime leaves, nduja or kefalotyri are available even many smaller shops. I travelled to Rhodes last year and wanted to bring back a specific greek olive oil, but couldn't find it until I checked my nearest medium sized grocery store in Helsinki that actually had it all along😂

I visit Prisma regularly. You can also get organic vegetables, organic dairy products, organic fruits, organic meat and game from there. There is also a large selection of different coffee, tea and cocoa products. Refrigerators, washing machines and dishwashers are also sold. Prisma also sells interior and exterior paints, wallpaper, tools and other building supplies. In addition, there is a shoemaker, restaurant, barber, pharmacy, laundromat, bank and optician, phone shop and liquor store. While shopping, you can charge your electric car in the parking lot. In addition, there is a pickup service for groceries, or they deliver to your home.

This is one of the 3 Prismas in our hometown (Jyväskylä) and it is the largest, alltough not by a large margin. Prismas are usually the cheapst stores, on par with Lidl. :)

I believe that, even though you can get just about any products from Prisma (and Citymarket), people go to the specialized stores instead when they want more service, more variety and maybe advice on which product to choose, etc. You can still ask some random worker passing you by in Prisma but they're not nearly as specialized of course, supermarket workers cannot be experts in everything. Then it's more like you just grab whatever from the shelf on your own and hope it's good enough (or maybe that's just me 🤣), usually the selection is rather generic.

About brands: there is basically 2 big chains in finland and both have own brand which you can only get in their store, but you can basically get any other big brand. For example for sport shoes you can buy nike, adidas, puma, etc or their own brand. Same goes basically for everything, food, kitchenware, drinks, clothes etc etc.

This was filmed in my hometown Jyväskylä. They sell even Brands ( Nike,adidas etc )in these supermarket. Lived in Helsinki since 1996, and even more things have in here.

Prisma is part of S-Group which historically is a co-operative. It was originally a co-operative owned by producers rather than consumers (as was the case in the UK for example). BUT consumers can and do become members of the co-operative and get discounts depending on the monthly spend in S-Group businesses. Fuel and restaurant meals are all available from S-Group.

11:31 Its a great place for starter level gear. Bikes, outdoor, fishing.. whatever you might need. Cheaper and easy to get. If you like the activity and you want more, you need to find a specialized shop.

You were wondering about if people buy clothes or camping/hiking stuff from supermarket or specialized store. Well that depends, if you want brand clothing you go to specialized store, if you are fine with 3€ t-shirt you get it from a supermarket - they are mostly "non-brand" stuff with few exceptions, like you can find Lacoste or Björn Borg shoes in supermarkets. For camping it is probably both, since you can get same stuff from each place, like from a glance the fishing lures looked to be quality stuff. But if you need some specialized camping gear, then shop dedicated for that is probably a better choice. But let's say you forgot your camping cooking ware, just stop by a large supermarket and pick it up from there. Or you notice some of your gear is broken, just get from supermarket. They are still decent stuff there.

The same brand sports goods and shoes are also sold in supermarkets than also in the specialized stores. Of course when the store is so big and it has to offer something for everyone it limits the range what they can offer in each price category. But they do have the stores own brand as well expensive and known brands too. Sometimes you can get some expensive branded shoes and other things too really cheaply from large supermarkets.

I find groceries in Finland to be very expensive, I was in Ireland before Xmas and I think it was a Tesco's I went into and nearly fainted with how cheap it was. Quality on fresh food would vary a lot I would imagine but Lidl is very popular here because of the cheaper alternatives and people meal prep weekly to get the costs down compared to wages.

My city (population 120,000) has two of those. In the same urban area but in another municipality there is a third one. Another similar but usually a bit smaller hypermarket chain is Citymarket. There are two Citymarkets in the city. Prismas and Citymarkets are usually but not always on the outskirts of cities. In the Finnish retail sector, there are two very large retailers' cooperatives: Kesko and the S Group, the latter of which is also involved in banking. Both corporations are cooperatives owned by the individual store owners (each Prisma or Citymarket or many other stores belonging to different chains) and the customers. What this means is that when you apply for and get your loyalty card, you can participate in corporate governance by voting for representatives who elect the board of directors. Kesko (also known as the K Group) and the S Group operate in several other countries, too. They are both franchisers like McDonalds except that they are cooperatives owned by the franchisees and the customers. This model is very common in Sweden and probably other Nordic countries, too. There are 65 Prismas and 80 Citymarkets in Finland. The population is 5.5 million. Each is supported by roughly 38 000 people.

One thing to mention , which probably forgot to note, U can go all hours to those supermarkets and most things are on the 'net to check, if they have that product, if not, they will mention, when product is available, only the largest supermarkets are open 24 h / 7 days... others are usually open 6/7-22 hours, still 7 days also.

I'm from Jyväskylä and it's crazy to see someone reacting to a shop that i have used and hasn't given it a second thought. And yes this shop is wery common it's not even so fancy compared to it's counterparts in Helsinki.

In Finland we have two major companies that compete for customers: S-ryhmä and K-ryhmä. S-ryhmä has about 47% market share and K-ryhmä about 35%. The next one, Lidl, only has about 10% market share. S-ryhmä tends to be more affordable than K-ryhmä, and both of them have their own brands of products that they sell. And people in Finland tend to be loyal to their preferred store.

The "wholesale" size of toilet paper is mostly meant for people with larger households or for summer cottages where stores might not always be close by, so people stock up. Might even be on an island, which we have plenty of :D

5:00 Import is usually quite a bit cheaper than locally produced. Towards the end of summer/autumn this can change for a while due to harvest season.

3:39 the funny thing is that this is exactly why the healthy stuff is in the beginning. it makes you think you are healthy so you buy more candy once you arrive at the candy isle. this is because this store layout makes more money for the supermarket.

the wall of small screens at 3 minutes are handheld scanners that you can use to scan the barcodes as you walk around to see how much all of it costs and it gets automatically transferred to the self service desk via the stores own bonus card. The supermarket clothes are the same as in clothing stores pretty much, i mean selection is a lot smaller but the quality is practically the same. for camping supplies they tend to be on the cheaper end but the quality is ok still but if you want the top of the line stuff you would go to a specialized store or order online. These hypermarkets tend to be a good place to buy most of your daily life supplies, and if you have the bonus card you also accumulate bonus credit which incentivizes people to buy more from there. for the quality control, finland has a fairly high standard for food and our consumer protection laws are fairly extensive, if a product is damaged you can return it even if the damage most likely wouldn't have made the food worse so its just a better idea for shops to send back damaged products.

Yes, people buy literally everything from Prisma. From gasoline to televisions. The product quality varies from good to the best available. It's not a Prisma Ltd, its cooperative which is illegal in most countries. Most of their customers have a green s-card and hold bank account under that same cooperative to get cashbacks on each purchase and yearly dividend based on consumption. The benefit is that you can get good quality and service every city you are in. But the problem is that it's grown so huge that they own pretty much everything from hundreds of restaurants to more than every other "gas station" in which there's usually a shop and some restaurants included. Always on the best spots of town or highways. No one can compete.

@11:05 These big supermarkets sell various types of clothes, and they do sell some high quality sportswear from reputable brands, but also some cheaper, lesser known brands. But with regular clothes, I'd say it's mostly older people and people on a tight budget that buy clothes from supermarkets like Prisma and Citymarket. But there's nothing inherently bad or low quality about these clothes, I often buy some socks and blank t shirts from there. @12:01 So the hiking equipment that you find from supermarkets are okay quality from some well known brands and some lesser known ones. They offer mostly entry level to mid-tier equipment for hiking and various sports. Serious hikers have to go to speciality shops in order to buy enthusiast level stuff. And this same logic applies for almost all categories. It's really good if you wanna get something basic for kids or you just want the budget option.

Prisma is one of the S-groups stores and if you have their loyal customer card and you use their stores, restaurants gas stations etc. they give back some money if you buy certain amount euros per month.

I got to say that as a finnish citizen, we take supermarkets like these for granted now, should be more grateful I guess :) But yeah the price increases/inflation is starting to get out of hand for sure

I drove to the Prisma in Kaari (Helsinki, Southern Finland) today, because they have a big fresh meat isle with a lot of different meat products compared to my local S-Market (which belongs to the same chain). I got everything on my grocery list, even more specialized things. The Prisma stores sure are enormous, no doubt about that. If you walk in a brisk pace straight across, it takes you up to 5 minutes from one outer wall to another in the larger ones. The variety of products is huge. The store-brand clothes are often quite cheap, but fairly durable. I buy a lot of t-shirts from Prisma, they are nice and loose and comfortable.

Potatoe is holy thing in Finland :D Prismas are too huge for me. You can actually buy chainsaws and tomatoes in the same Prisma. There`s really big Prisma in Tampere, it`s like 300meters long :D

We go to Lidl and Prisma twice a week to buy our groceries. Rarely have to go anywhere else, even if we occasionally need to buy the other stuff as well. They have their own inexpensive brands, but also more high quality brands i.e. in clothing and cookware.

We have those food racks, buffé style things in Sweden, but they are pricy. It's usually much more bang for the buck to buy a Pizza or some Sushi. It is pretty much the same in Sweden, you can buy clothes etc in large Super Markets, usually of less quality (and cheaper)

These chains like Prisma and Kesko's Citymarkets do sell products that vary in quality. Groceries in general are always good quality even the cheaper ones. For clothes, outdoor items etc they have house brands and a bit more expensive brands as well (excluding luxury brands of course) like Savotta, Puma, Nike, Halti etc. In general I would still say that the cheapest products are still better quality than some things you can find in some other european countries. You could find decent/okay-ish products for outdoor but not really the top-of-the-line products so people that do hike specially in winter use the stores focused in outdoor activities. Same goes really for sports. You can find some decent budget products but if you for another example look for biking stuff that is better quality you go to bike shop or order online. These stores only sell the cheapest bike parts even though they are still usually Shimano when talking about core parts. Seats, mudguards of course can be some house brands produced in China. Another example, I just bought house brand paint from Prisma. I bought outdoor paint for a fence and then painted few bedrooms with decoration paint that was mixed in the store. These are made in Finland and probably are rebranded products from well-known makers. Fun fact: S-Group which owns the Prisma stores literally has a brand called 'House'. 😂

This is actually a hypermarket, which are the biggest ones around. It's meant to have everything a household might need and they are in big shopping centers where people drive their cars to. Supermarkets are smaller. And yes, it is a pretty common to have one somewhere near for a car to go and visit.

Your perspective on Prisma was very nice to hear. Definitely gained some new appreciation for the product lineup.

Most fruits here in Finland doesnt taste good because obviously they are not local so they are not ripe. But bananas ripen on the table so thry are ok and on the winter some acid fruits are very yummy because its season. Apples are usually good as well as plums, and frozen berries because you can find local ones. Veggies and potatoes etc are very good. And other products.

salaries have remained the same here, but the price of food is getting more expensive here every month and the price of some products has more than doubled in a short time and shops here are making record profits month after month

I love your Scottish English, it's very soothing. (Braveheart watching abuser back in the Gymnasium)

Prisma is a store with has like everything there is toys, bikes, clothes, furniture and thats not all. Usually i dont go there just to buy food

3:07 if you're a member of the co-op, i.e. have a green card, you can pick up a scanner (it unlocks with the green card) and scan and bag your things as you go. Once you're finished, you scan the "I'm done" code and return the scanner, then go to any checkout point, show your green card to the terminal, and pay. Your stuff is already packed and ready to go. Loss is prevented with spot checks.

Since this video was few years old, I didn't recognize it first but then I realised that this is the supermaker where I usually buy my groceries from. :D

3:07 that's Scan&Go, don't know how popular it is in other countries. 11:50 Those are Savotta backpacks, well known quality brand that is expensive everywhere but maybe little cheaper in big supermarkets.

Is this Prisma 'Kaari' Kannelmäki? If so then nothing away from Prisma, but this is a footage of the flagship store, the biggest Prisma and possibly biggest supermarket in Finland. All Prismas (around 10 in Helsinki metropolitan area) are big but Kaari takes the cake.

Many of these Prisma stores are open 24 hours. Yuo should visit one during the night. There's plenty of staff adding products to the shelves. The store has more people than in this video, most of them working. It's surreal.

This Prisma is part of the S-company, here in Finland. We have also the K-company, and these companys are bigist household companys here, and they are fearce rivals. They both have their own system to give byers points of their shoping, and give some money back to them. S- company has own bank, and gives the payback to your bankaccount, and if you are some other banks customer, and have S-companys acoutnles card they give you your prosentage once a year. K-company gives your money back, when it has come over some limit, while you are paying your purchasies.

I'd say for non-consumables Prisma is decently cost effective for low to mid tier less important stuff. If you're going camping you might get an underlay and utensils from Prisma, but go to a more speciality place for the tent.

Regarding the clothes and outdoor stuff in stores like Prisma. Yes people (including me) do buy them, but it might not be that high of a quality and the selection is not as big. So if you want complete outfit or stuff like that, it might not be optimum, but for stuff like normal t-shirt, its fine. I have a sleeping bag, which I have used for 5-10 years for now (maybe more), which I have bought from prisma, but I do mostly use it on our summer cottage or in western region. Would not use it in the north when hiking if its winter. So it is a mix and a compromise, but a working one.

I'm from Finland and I was living in the UK recently for couple of years, in Birmingham to be exact. All Tesco and ASDA stores are huge there but Prismas and K-citymarkets are bigger here in Finland what it comes to store sizes and the price level is pretty similar overall. But what is comes to prices alone, none of them can't beat LIDL or Aldi prices in the UK, much cheaper for every day products.

About sport goods in supermarkets. They sell the same brands as sports stores, Adidas, Nike, Asics, Under Armour etc. so they are good quality and often cheaper than in specialists stores.

There are multiple Prismas and Citymarkets in one city. I don't think this video even showed everything. You can buy wall paint, tools, screws, books, toys, office suplies, yarn for knitting and crocheting, dishes.

In finland we produce atleast 100% of potatoes and eggs that we need in one year, farmers can only sow 1 time each year due to 3 months of good conditions for growing for example wheat.

I rarely go to these larger markets, but heaven is exactly how i think about them. Its exactly how people would have envisioned heaven 200 years ago. The variety has grown a lot in Finland. It wasn't like this before. To see like ails of different soft drinks is weird.

Prisma and Citymarket are more Hypermarket style store, think of like BIG Tesco in the UK or Walmart in the US, meanwhile more common are the smaller supermarkets that are closer to people or in the middle of the city, meanwhile these tend to be on the edges of city districts where theres space to make these huge ones.

Say if I want a pack of Adidas socks it generally doesn't make any sense buying them online since they're pretty much the same price in the Prisma but if I'm buying a pair of trainers or other special shoes I typically wouldn't buy them at Prisma but at a specialized sports store (the big alternatives being XXL, Stadium, Intersport and Budget Sport). Prices are usually on the lower scale of the spectrum at Prisma but almost never the cheapest. Saying that Prisma has a customer loyalty program that gets you a discount based on your monthly purchases and enables you to get certain products at discounts (up to 20-25% at times) every now and then so it evens out in the end. Buying stuff online has pretty much exploded the last five years in Finland and Prisma does have a webshop too as does most consumer businesses nowadays.

Very common you can find prisma and citymarket almost anywhere. About the prices. They are very affortable since Finnish People generally get paid better of the work. I learned this when I was as exchange student in uk. The salary lever is much better here compared to uk even in the low paid jobs. About the snow you were talking about. We are used to it. It was such a culture shock when I went to uk and there was "snow storm" (looked like a regular behinning of winter in finlad when there is not much snow yet) and everything was closed even the schools. It was grazy. Finns have winter tires in their car and if they live in the rural areas the big car is a must but its not the reason why we have supermarkets like this. But I do think that finns are just used to get everything under the same roof. And when there is customers It pays Off. And prisma and citymarket are selling known brands so the quality is good but they are also selling the stores own cheap brands as competition