Outlet stores/Discount shopping

[Meeowie]

Hi guys,
Just a question since I am new to Finland... what are the best websites for great deals? In the US, I loved shopping at overstock.com, outlet stores, walmart, etc. but the shipping to Finland makes these inefficient. I'm looking for mainly household goods (pots&pans, bedding, towels, kitchen utensils, etc) but am also interested in furniture, clothing, and contact lenses (used to get these online, but again found shipping to be a problem). I don't live in Helsinki so things are even harder to come by in the local shops. Anyway, if you have any secrets for shopping or living frugally, please let me know! Thx!

[raamv]

once you get beyond the shipping and handling inefficiencies...you will start to rethink about them again..
so start asking relevant questions instead of asking stupid ones as you ll get hurt getting the answers for them here..
Shop around a bit before you post so you know the realities here on thje ground as compared to the US as US IS NOT FINLAND and FINLAND is NOT THE US!!
Shopping frugally means looking at many places... From Clas Ohlson, Biltema, Tarjoustalo, Säästo Pörssi, specsavers, Going to Estonia and back, ebay.de, ebay.co.uk, etc etc
Welcome to Finland, the land of Tax and Shopping Paradise!!

[AldenG]

In Finland you won't have room for all that stuff you used to buy in the U.S. Nor will you need a dozen different kinds of kitchen knives, etc. If you have a cheese plane, that's already highfalutin. You may even stop using a clothes dryer.

If you want to enjoy Finland for what it is rather than dislike it for what it isn't, put your energy into getting to know parts of the city, riding all the tram lines, walking the neighborhoods, sitting at sidewalk cafes, soaking up summer, reading in a park, eating strawberries and sweet peas fresh from the open market (kauppatori), wandering through the indoor fresh markets (kauppahalli), eating all the local foods, sunning at the beach while you still can (they close in early August), etc. Go native, in other words.

It may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get healthy.

[Frankie abbot]

Go to Ikea dead cheap,if your not staying long and dont care on quality.Over in Hakaniemi there are alot of 2nd hand shops you may pick up some bargains there.

[Rosamunda]

You can buy on-line from the UK and shouldn't have any problems with shipping and taxes. This might be a solution for your contact lenses (there have been threads about contact lenses on here before so try doing a search). The exchange rate from the UK is quite good at the moment so there are some bargains, but for most household goods it just isn't worth the hassle.

Ordering on-line from the USA is still possible. My husband buys clothes and shoes on-line from the USA and also hunting gear etc.. You might be hit for tax but in some cases, even with tax, it is still a cheaper solution.

For household linens, towels and cheap furniture etc try Jysk (they have stores all over Finland http://www.jysk.fi) and Hemtex (linens and towels). For pots and pans and utensils then Tarjoustalo or even a decent sized Prisma. As previously mentioned, you can get some great bargains in flea markets and secondhand stores (Fida, UFF). You will find them everywhere and in summer there are outdoor flea markets and car boot sales all over the place.

The summer sales will start after mid-summer and then places like Jysk do great bargains - up to 70% off some items.

[debonaire]

For household linens, towels and cheap furniture etc try Jysk (they have stores all over Finland http://www.jysk.fi) and Hemtex (linens and towels). The summer sales will start after mid-summer and then places like Jysk do great bargains - up to 70% off some items.

Personally i woudn't recommend JYSK...I had bought earlier a couple of furniture items from JYSK merely because they were much cheaper in comparision to other stores but I have been completely disappointed with their quality...The cupboard and the recliner I bought in the begining of 2008 were already broken within 12 months...The other items which i had purchased from ASKO and SOTKA are doing just fine...Ofcorse they are relatively more expensive but quality usually comes with a price

[Rosamunda]

I'd agree with that. If you want cheap then Jysk... if you want quality then there are plenty of other places.

OTOH we did get two office chairs for my kids, black, "leather" (not), one from Ikea and one from Jysk. The Ikea one disintegrated after a few months and the Jysk one (which was cheaper) is still going strong. But that could be something to do with the destructive forces of my kids. Jysk is certainly OK for sheets etc (IMO better than Hemtex), but it is, as you say, all cheap stuff. I also bought teak garden furniture from Jysk a few years ago and it has done fine, good bargain in the end of summer sales. But I have never bought beds, desks, sofas etc from there.

[Meeowie]

Thanks for the suggestions, I will check them out. As for contacts, I think I've found a really good site and thought I'd share. It's Coastal Contacts, www.coastalcontacts.com... they have the cheapest prices I've found on the net, if you don't live in the USA they don't need a prescription for the order , and shipping to europe was only 13.95 usd. So the transaction was just ordering on their website and the contacts arriving a few days later. Anyway, hope this helps someone. Enjoy!

[Iseult]

Jysk is certainly OK for sheets etc (IMO better than Hemtex), but it is, as you say, all cheap stuff.

This is true as long as you stay away from the cheapest of the cheap stuff that they often advertise. The cheapest sheets are pretty horrid, literally threadbare, rough muslin-type material that you can see through. Unfortunately this is not always apparent when the sheets are still in the packaging. As a poor university student I used to get all my sheets at Jysk and would sometimes accidentally rip holes in them in my sleep, that's how weak the fabric is...