Columbus is a

shopping centre A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre ( Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known colle ...

Vuosaari Vuosaari ( sv, Nordsjö) is a neighbourhood in the City of Helsinki, Finland. It is located by the sea in East Helsinki and with its area of is geographically the largest district in the city. It also has two Helsinki Metro stations, Rastila ...

, Helsinki, Finland, right next to the

Vuosaari metro station Vuosaari metro station (, ) is the ground-level terminus station of the M1 line of the Helsinki Metro. It serves the district of Vuosaari in East Helsinki. The station was opened on 31 August 1998 and was designed by the architect firm Esa Piiron ...

.Kauppakeskukset 2019
Shopping Centre Association of Finland. Accessed on 1 July 2020. It is owned by Citycon. The centre was completed in August 1996. The centre has a total surface area of over . To the north of the shopping centre are located the Mosaiikkitori square and the

Vuotalo Vuotalo (Swedish language, Swedish: ''Nordhuset'') is a cultural centre located in Vuosaari, Helsinki, Finland north of the Mosaiikkitori square, near the Columbus (shopping centre), Columbus shopping centre, the Vuosaari metro station, the Vuosa ...

cultural centre as well as the Vuosaari sports hall, and to the south of it are located the service centre Albatrossi and

Cirrus Cirrus may refer to: Science *Cirrus (biology), any of various thin, thread-like structures on the body of an animal *Cirrus (botany), a tendril * Infrared cirrus, in astronomy, filamentary structures seen in infrared light *Cirrus cloud, a typ ...

, the highest residential building in Finland, which was completed in 2006.

History

The Paulig era (1996-2006)

The family company Paulig known for its coffee and spicesPaulig myy Columbus-kauppakeskuksen
MTV 16 June 2006. Accessed on 25 June 2020. owned land at the centre of Vuosaari. During the

early 1990s depression in Finland The early 1990s depression in Finland was one of the worst economic crises in Finland's history, even worse there than the 1930s Great Depression. The depression of 1991–1993 had a deep effect on the economy of Finland throughout the 1990s, espe ...

, the company started building business spaces in the area by itself as it could not find any suitable investors.Paulig myi Columbus-kiinteistön Cityconille
'' Helsingin Sanomat'' 17 June 2006. Accessed on 25 June 2020. The shopping centre was completed in autumn 1996, almost two years before the Vuosaari branch of the

Helsinki metro The Helsinki Metro ( fi, Helsingin metro, sv, Helsingfors metro) is a rapid transit system serving Greater Helsinki, Finland. It is the world's northernmost metro system. It was opened to the general public on 2 August 1982 after 27 years of p ...

and its three stations (

Puotila Puotila (Finnish), Botby gård (Swedish) is an eastern neighborhood of Helsinki, Finland. Politics Results of the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election in Puotila: * Social Democratic Party 24.5% *National Coalition Party 19.9% *True Finns 1 ...

Rastila Rastila ( sv, Rastböle) is an eastern suburb in the Vuosaari district of Helsinki, Finland. Rastila lies to the north of the arterial road Vuotie (Sw. Norvägen); to the south lies Meri-Rastila (Sw. Havs-Rastböle), which is often understood as pa ...

and Vuosaari) were put into use. Because of its small size, the centre was slightly overshadowed by larger shopping centres, so it was expanded to the east by about . The expansion was started in June 2005 and was completed at Christmas 2006. With the expansion, the total surface area of the centre grew to over and the number of parking spaces grew from seven hundred to one thousand. Businesses located in the expansion part included

K-Supermarket sv, Kesko Abp , logo = Kesko logo.svg , logo_size = 150px , type = Julkinen osakeyhtiö , traded_as = , foundation = , location_city = Helsinki , location_country = Finland , key_people = Mikko Helander (President and CEO), Esa Kii ...

Posti Group Posti Group Oyj (previously Suomen Posti during 1994–2007 and Itella during 2007–2015), trading internationally as Posti Group Corporation, is the main Finnish postal service delivering mail and parcels in Finland. The State of Finland is t ...

Tokmanni Tokmanni Group Oyj is a Finnish retail chain, which is also the largest discount store chain in Finland in terms of net sales in 2019. Tokmanni is Finland's only nationwide discount store chain, and at the end of 2019 it had almost 200 stores aroun ...

, Jysk and the

self storage Self storage (a shorthand for "self-service storage," and also known as "device storage") is an industry that rents storage space (such as rooms, lockers, containers, and/or outdoor space), also known as "storage units," to tenants, usually on ...

rental company Cityvarasto. In 2005, the total revenue of the Columbus shopping centre was over 65 million euro.

The Citycon era (2006-present)

In 2006, the shopping centre had about sixty tenants. Paulig sold the Columbus building, which was not part of its core business, to Citycon for 80 million euro. Paulig spent part of this money to building a new coffee roastery in Vuosaari. A second expansion was completed in autumn 2007, with

K-Citymarket sv, Kesko Abp , logo = Kesko logo.svg , logo_size = 150px , type = Julkinen osakeyhtiö , traded_as = , foundation = , location_city = Helsinki , location_country = Finland , key_people = Mikko Helander (President and CEO), Esa Kii ...

as its main tenant. The leasable business area of the centre grew to . In autumn 2016, the K-Citymarket store in the centre was downgraded back to K-Supermarket. In July 2012, a glass window of about in area fell down from a height of in the shopping centre. No one was injured. In February 2019,

Paulig Paulig is a Finnish family-owned food and drink company, founded in 1876. The company's brands are Paulig, Santa Maria, Risenta and Poco Loco. Paulig has 2,000 employees in 13 countries and its net sales in 2019 were EUR 921 million. History The ...

and Citycon made a preliminary business deal with

Bonava Bonava is a residential development company in Northern Europe, born out of the Swedish construction company NCC AB. Bonava develops and sells homes and neighbourhoods to consumers and investors in selected markets in Sweden, Germany, Finland, Den ...

about the lots located in Vuosaari. The area is located in Vuosaari, in the northern part of

Aurinkolahti Aurinkolahti (meaning "Sunny Bay"; sv, Solvik) is a young and fast-growing sub-neighbourhood of the East Helsinki neighbourhood of Vuosaari, in Helsinki, Finland. Aurinkolahti's original name was ''Mustalahti'' ("Black Bay"),Bonava aikoo ostaa 32 000 kerrosneliötä rakennusoikeutta Helsingistä – asuntoja sadoille uusille asukkaille
''Tekniikkatalous''. Accessed on 25 June 2020.

Businesses

Numerous businesses related to daily groceries, clothes, beauty, the household and free time, as well as restaurants and services, are located in the Columbus shopping centre. Businesses in the centre include

Alko Alko Inc is the national alcoholic beverage retailing monopoly in Finland. It is the only store in the country which retails beer over 5.5% ABV, wine (except in vineyards) and spirits. Alcoholic beverages are also sold in licensed restaurant ...

, R-kioski,

S-Market The S Group ( fi, S-ryhmä, sv, S-gruppen) is a Finnish retailing cooperative organisation with its head office in Helsinki. Founded in 1904, it consists of 20 regional cooperatives operating all around Finland in addition to SOK, ''Suomen Osuu ...

Lindex Lindex is a Swedish fashion chain within the Finnish Stockmann Group. The company has around 5000 employees and approximately 480 stores in 18 markets in the Nordic countries, the Baltic States, Central Europe and the Middle East. In additio ...

, Hesburger, Subway, a pharmacy and

. The newest tenant in the centre is

Lidl Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG (; ) is a German international discount retailer chain that operates over 11,000 stores across Europe and the United States. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, the company belongs to the Schwarz Group, whi ...

Gallery

File:Columbus Vuosaari.jpg, The northern entrance from Mosaiikkitori File:Columbus parkkihalli.jpg, The parking garage File:K-Citymarket in Columbus.jpg, K-Supermarket (previously K-Citymarket) File:Columbus S-Market.jpg, S-market File:Columbus mall.jpg, A view of Columbus seen from the northern part

References

External links

*
Official site
{{coord, 60, 12, 27, N, 25, 08, 41, E, region:FI-ES, display=title Shopping centres in Helsinki Vuosaari