Destroying a valuable Best Buy outlet

I have been wanting to write this blog entry for a long time. I have held back for various reasons.

I saw the cards on the table as long as 2 years ago. Slowly and surely, one of the outstanding Best Buy identified outlets was taken over and destroyed by the Kesko Group.

CASSA in Rajakylä, a suburb on the north of Oulu had great prices for many products. It had a range of products not seen in many other shops.

I used to enjoy driving the 10 km to shop at this store as I could save quite a bundle (usually up to 18% on a trip).

Many Best Buy Blog readers used to take the trouble to go out to this CASSA to do their shopping.

The first signs of the destruction of this economy store took place when the good range of Euroshopper frozen vegetables was taken out of the freezers. They were replaced by the considerably more expensive PIRKKA branded frozen vegetables. PIRKKA ia a brand belonging to the Kesko Group.

This was followed by rise of prices, product after product - French Fries (€0.79 per kg was raised to €0.99 per kg), Rape Seed Cooking Oil (€0.89 per litre was raised to €1.09), Europshopper Instant Coffee (€2.39 for 200 gm was raised to € 2.99), Eggs (€ 0.79 for 10 was raised to €1.09), Fruit Juices (€0.33 per litre was raised to €0.69), Chicken Wings (€2.29 for 900 gm was raised to €2.99), till finally not only were the prices not on par with other similar K Shops but made even more expensive then them.

I did tell the shop assistants time and time again that they were driving regular customers, like me, away. They reassured me that they would tell the franchisee. Obviously they were too scared to broach the subject.

And now the process is complete and CASSA, Rajakylä, is no longer worth going anywhere near.

I would normally have assigned the blame to a franchisee who was in financial trouble.

But that it was the considered policy of the Kesko Group is obvious from the evidence I have unearthed. There is a similar CASSA shop in Haukipudas, the next county north of Oulu. It has been similarly destroyed by the Kesko takeover.

If you shop at either of these shops, take a few minutes to tell the franchisee that they have lost your custom. Move on to more reliable shops that will ensure that you get good buys across the board.

Do stay tuned to this page where we will identify best buys regularly so that you continue to beat inflation, year after year.