Can’t believe nearly two months has passed since my trip to Tampere. I promised a posting about my thrifty shopping there and here it is. At last!
Shopping in Tampere is really nice. Even with my wobbly knees, everything is within walking distance. They say it about Helsinki too but that’s just not true. Well, if you only shop for cheap clothes, then it is. If you haven’t noticed, I have an issue with Helsinki. Has something to do with Finnish politics. But now back to Tampere:
Our first stop was Fida on Tammelan puistokatu 37. The items I bought here were: vintage cardboard freezer boxes and butter knives.
My next stop was Bonuskirppis which is located right around the corner from Fida, on Itsenäisyydenkatu 11-13. Tip: if you walk couple of blocks ahead, there’s a Salvation Army charity shop on Itsenäisyydenkatu. Keep your eyes peeled though. The shop is on second floor and the sign leading there is very small.
Items bought at Bonuskirppis: a vintage sheet and rockabilly jersey yardage.
Items from Salvation Army: retro Minnie Mouse shoulder bag.
After the flea markets, Kati and I met up with our cousin at Stockmann (a department store) and we continued our way towards Belles, a scrapbook store. My cousins weren’t too thrilled about this but I reminded that I was there on holiday so to Belles we went. The store is quite small but everything is beautifully presented. My only wish is that they had larger selection but I ended up buying some papers by Crate Paper and alphabet stickers by American Crafts. After I finished my crafty shopping, we walked to:
Radiokirppis is not far from Belles and is located on Laukontori, a market square. The official adress is Laukontori 12. Here you can find a lot of booths but beware, lot of the sellers haven’t realized that they are selling used goods at a flea market. 60 euros for H&M designer collection shoes? I think not. I did make some finds but I got lucky. My cousins who go there often told me that it’s always the same. Lots of overpricing and some finds here and there.
Items bought: vintage tea towels, an olive green Pyrex mixing bowl and a picture frame.
After all this thrifting and shopping, we got hungry and decided to have lunch at the market. My cousins tried to tempt me with mustamakkara, black pudding sausage, to which I responded, very maturely, with a very loud yuck and bullied one of them to go and get me a hotdog. Guess where this is heading? After taking few complimentary bites from their serving, I declared the hotdog disgusting and the black sausage insanely delicious. FYI, the red sauce is lingonberry sauce. The same you get with Ikea meatballs.
Random shot I took when waiting for the food. That day the weather was very nice, not too hot, little breeze…The best! I didn’t even burn even though I wasn’t wearing sun screen! A miracle by itself.
That’s my cousin Essi showing off her nails. When I say she showed off, I really mean I made her keep her hand like that until I got one decent shot. My argument was that nail art is a craft too and as a family member, she should be supporting my bloggy endeavours. But I think I said it nicer than that.
This is my loot from that day. I can see I forgot to mention couple of items. A russian children’s game, an apron and some plastic “paper” dolls. The sheet I already sold on Facebook market but some of these are still on my “to photograph and write a description” list. Over all my trip to Tampere was very nice. I might have to give a call to Kati and ask if she’d like to have me over some time soon, I feel my thrifty fingers itching…
Over and out. Thrifty Finn.
I love the photographs of your adventures. I thoroughly enjoy images of places I have never been and probably will never be. It’s neat!