Glasshouse Helsinki announces a ground-breaking sustainable retail concept and meeting place in the heart of Helsinki
Glasshouse Helsinki Ltd has announced the opening of a ground-breaking, future-oriented sustainable retail environment in central Helsinki during this spring. The new concept store on Aleksanterinkatu, the city’s principal shopping street, will be located in a historic building owned by pension insurance company Ilmarinen and previously occupied by department store Aleksi 13. It will bring together a variety of players in fashion, design, arts, industrial innovation and culture, who share a vision of a sustainable future.
Glasshouse Helsinki has set out to create a new, centrally located meeting place, which makes sustainable consumption, circular economy and local, responsible production and lifestyle easily accessible to all.
”Climate change is an unquestionable and ever present truth, yet fully understanding it is complicated. We hope our two-storey concept store will give consumers the opportunity to both pose questions and find answers. How can we get involved and understand our role as human beings in terms of environmental, social and societal responsibility? How can we make better consumer decisions in our everyday life?”, Mirkku Kullberg, the CEO of Glasshouse Helsinki ponders.
A strong desire to bring central Helsinki to life
A notable property investor in Finland, Ilmarinen owns several historically important buildings in the heart of Helsinki. Sustainability plays a key part in all its investment decisions and collaboration with tenants.
The global transformation of retail has made its mark on Helsinki, too. The rise of shopping centres and changing urban cultures have fragmented traditional city centres. The pandemic altered the urban environment within weeks and continues to disrupt it today. This situation calls for a brand new approach. Glasshouse Helsinki and Ilmarinen both want to inject new life into the city.
”It’s great to see such novel concepts emerge in the city, which combine business and sustainability. We want to contribute to the vitality of central Helsinki, while managing the lifecycle of properties from the sustainability perspective, Ilmarinen’s Letting Manager Ville Laurila says.
Glasshouse Helsinki has a reputation for bold endeavours, fuelled by its desire to push forward pioneering, inspirational ventures.
”Here at Glasshouse Helsinki we are interested in bringing the latest industrial innovations and scientific perspectives to the general public, generating genuine dialogue and enterprise at all levels. We want to introduce sustainability to people’s everyday lives and the very core of their thinking, simultaneously appealing to emotions and making the complex accessible. After these long months with the coronavirus, we must build hope for the future. It’s time for concrete action,” Kullberg claims.
Aleksanterinkatu 13 is one of the most architecturally significant addresses in central Helsinki. The six-storey stone building was designed for commercial use by Selim A. Lindqvist in 1900, with large windows ideal for a department store.
Along with the new concept store, it will also be home to Glasshouse Helsinki’s subsidiary, Lokal Helsinki.
For more information, please contact:
Glasshouse Helsinki: Chief Communication Director Anna Vartiainen,
anna.vartiainen@glasshousehelsinki.com, +358 40 823 9039
Ilmarinen: Letting Manager Ville Laurila,
ville.laurila@ilmarinen.fi, +358 40 501 0040
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