This is a central, big, modern bookstore with impressive English section. It looks much better from the inside than from the outside:) The designer was Alvar Aalto, an architect famous for his airy modern Scandinavian design. Unfortunately, my photos don’t represent the design that well, but please go to this link to appreciate how beautiful the space is! Great selection of thrillers and murder mysteries (I was able to find the first one on Chief Inspector Armand Gamache by Louise Penny) here. Also, pretty good on modern prose and a decent classics section.
To be honest, I was surprised not to find many of the recent hits, and I am talking about books that were published like a year ago. Usually, such chain bookstores (like Martinus in Slovakia or Rahva Raamat in Estonia, separate posts on them coming up on this blog soon) are trying to keep up with the latest hits, but sadly, not Academic Bookstore. Also, while they did have some non-fiction, the selection was really not that big and also lacking hits or recent fan favorites.
But that’s really me being picky, the store is good! Especially if you can read Finnish (haha). Then it becomes a great store, because they have two stories full of books in Finnish in all possible genres (I can recommend their art/design section, where even some English books live). A pleasant bonus for all the Moomin fans among us – Academic has a separate section of Moomin-goods, from stationery to handbags to posters with Moomin quotes. I especially like this one: “You must go on a long journey before you can really find out how wonderful home is.”
– Snufkin (Comet In Moominland)
Location: Keskuskatu 1, 00100 Helsinki