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Finnish department store Stockmann reported a drop in its December sales today and in its sales for the whole of 2008.
The Stockmann Group - which includes the Stockmann stores - made 261 million euros in December 2007 but this was down to 247 million euros in December 2008; a drop of 5 percent.
Compared to 2008, sales were up overall by 36 percent but the last quarter of the year saw a dramatic change.
'Sales in the last quarter of the year were lower than anticipated owing to a strong deterioration in consumer confidence,' a Stockmann spokesman said.
However, the slump was far more obvious in the Stockmann department stores - in Oulu, Helsinki and its suburbs, Turku and Tampere. 'The department store's sales were down by 8.6 percent' on last year, according to the company.
'Sales were down 2.7 percent in Finland and 23.9 percent aborad.'
There are a number of Stockmann shops outside of Finland including in Tallin and Moscow. Stockmann stressed that part of the reason for the huge slump abroad was that one of the Moscow branches had been closed since May due to 'unlawful actions.'
The first Stockmann department store was founded in Helsinki in 1862 by German businessman G. F. Stockmann. The well known 'Crazy Days' began in 1986. The company has 15000 employees and prides itself on quality service with employees wearing badges indicating which languages they speak.
Sales were also down in the various firms owned by the Stockmann group such as Lindex, which saw profits fall by 2 percent.
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