Helsinki - Stockmann's Department Store

From Senate Square in Helsinki, Aleksanterinkatu continues west. This section of the street is busier and livelier than the lower part. At its intersection with the broad Mannerheimintie, in the center of the street, is a sculpture by F. Nyland (1932), "Three Smiths", scarred by Soviet bombing. To the left is Stockmann's department store, established by a Lübeck man, G. F. Stockmann, who began with a small general store at the corner of Aleksanterinkatu and Unioninkatu, on Senate Square. The present store extends to the left along Mannerheimintie to its intersection with the Esplanade.

Stockmann's department store is now Finland's largest retail operation. Given its century-old existence, Stockmann's is considered a national institution.