Marimekko Corporation, Press release, 27 September 2012 at 10 AM
Marimekko is opening its own retail store in Lappeenranta today, and November will see the opening of a company-owned Marimekko store in central Helsinki. New Marimekko stores and shop-in-shops will also be opened in Tampere, Kuopio, Kouvola and Salo.
Although the main investments in expanding the Marimekko store network have been on the international market in the past few years, it has been grown and updated at the same time in the domestic market, which is also important for the company. In the second half of this year, a total of six new Marimekko stores will open in Finland, two of them shop-in-shops. During the first half of the year, Marimekko opened a company-owned store at the Sello mall in Espoo.
Lappeenranta’s patience will be rewarded today when a new Marimekko store will open its doors in the city centre. In the light and colourful store, particular attention is paid to inspiring and cosy atmosphere and memorable in-store customer experience. Lappeenranta is a busy trading town; the great interest shown in Marimekko by the local people plus the growing number of visitors there make it an attractive location for a new, company-owned retail store.
In mid-September, a Marimekko shop-in-shop opened at the Sokos department store in Tampere, as did a retailer-owned Marimekko store at the largest mall in Southeast Finland, Veturi in Kouvola. Openings in large malls will continue with the start-up in November of a retailer-owned Marimekko store at the brand-new Ikano mall in Kuopio. Around the same time, a Marimekko shop-in-shop will open at Design Hill, a specialist in Finnish brand products located in Halikko, Salo.
Helsinki city centre is a very important area for Marimekko. The flagship store in the Kämp Galleria mall was totally revamped and moved into new premises in 2011. This November, Marimekko will strengthen its presence in the city centre by opening a new company-owned store in an excellent location next to the Stockmann department store.
“In accordance with our distribution strategy in Finland, the stores in city centres important to us and in major shopping centres in the Helsinki region are to be mainly company-owned. At the same time, we are also expanding our distribution through retailer-owned Marimekko stores and Marimekko shop-in-shops inside major department stores, which constitute another strategic mainstay for us. The locations of stores are always carefully considered, and when necessary we are prepared to spend a long time looking for the right premises, as was the case with the stores now to be opened in Lappeenranta and Helsinki, for example. In 2011, five new Marimekko stores were opened in Finland; this year the number will be seven. We have also refurbished a number of stores in line with our new store concept. The most important of these has been our flagship store in Helsinki, which we are pleased to say has won unprecedented popularity both with Finns and with our international customers. We expect the same kind of success story with our new store in Helsinki after it is opened in November as the flagship store has enjoyed,” reports Sales Director Päivi Lonka.
MARIMEKKO CORPORATION
Corporate Communications
Piia Kumpulainen
Tel. +358 9 758 7293
piia.kumpulainen@marimekko.fi
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Marimekko is a Finnish textile and clothing design company renowned first and foremost for its original prints and colours. The company designs and manufactures high-quality household goods ranging from interior decoration textiles to tableware as well as clothing, bags, and other accessories. When Marimekko was founded in 1951, its unprecedented printed fabrics gave it a strong and unique identity. Marimekko products are sold in about 40 countries. In 2011, sales of the company's brands were some EUR 170 million with net sales of EUR 77 million. At the end of the year, there were 90 Marimekko stores. The key markets are North America, Northern Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The Group has about 500 employees. Marimekko's shares are quoted on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd. www.marimekko.com