The Iso Omena shopping centre, literally “Big Apple”, will open in Espoo’s Matinkylä district on Monday. Iso Omena is Finland’s second largest shopping mall after Helsinki’s Itäkeskus. The new mall covers some 150,000 square metres.

   

Iso Omena provides an exceptionally broad range of services. In addition to the markets and boutiques, numerous public services can also obtained under the same roof. A library operates in the facilities, and classrooms of adult education facilities as well as a service centre for young people are also located in Iso Omena.

   

The city of Espoo also operates a service centre where most matters involving local or state authorities can be taken care of.

Shoppers can spend a quiet moment in a chapel,

as well as visit a doctor or the post office, catch a movie, or get a haircut. Three apartment buildings with flats designed especially for senior citizens have been built in connection with the mall, and residents can enter the shopping area via a direct corridor.

   

Over the next few years, some 40 other apartment buildings containing a total of 1,500 flats will be built near Iso Omena, turning the area into a miniature city of its own.

   

The ground floor of the new shopping centre will be taken up by two huge supermarkets, and clothing and fashion stores will be located on the second floor. Municipal and other services will fill up the top floor.

   

Some 140,000 people are expected to visit Iso Omena each week, 80,000 of whom will shop in the supermarkets. 113,000 people live within a five-minute drive of the shopping centre.