A Look Back at Prisma’s 26 Years in Estonia
Text Timo Raussi Photos Tiit Mõtus
The SOK retail group announced in the spring that it was selling its Estonian Prisma supermarkets to the local Coop chain, which also operates on a cooperative basis. Now that the competition authorities have approved the deal, the sale has been completed, and the rebranding process is set to begin store by store in September, it is a good time to look back at Prisma’s 26 years of operations in Estonia. We do so with the help of the supermarket chain’s “Facebook history of its leaders” and Estonian media archives.
Prisma’s story in Estonia began in 2000, when its first managing director, Liisi Jauho, joined the company during the construction phase of the chain’s very first store, in Tallinn’s Sikupilli district. She essentially built the operation from scratch, recruiting staff, planning the product range, and taking responsibility for marketing. The challenges during the opening phase could sometimes be unexpected.
“To create the store’s branded interior look, we bought out all the local stocks of green tape and adhesive film, but in the end even that was not quite enough,” Jauho recalls.
The company was led by Arttu Laine from 2003 to 2004, a period remembered for an unusual marketing campaign. After Estonia joined the EU, a Koskenkorva bus aimed at Finnish customers began operating between the Viru Hotel and Prisma Sikupilli. A little later, the same sight could also be seen in the Rocca al Mare area.
“Under today’s restrictions, something like that sounds unbelievable, but at the time everything was legal,” Laine says.
Leena Laitinen, the company’s managing director from 2004 to 2006, decided to learn Estonian immediately after moving from Finland to Estonia.
“At first, I imagined that I spoke Estonian well, even though I really didn’t,” she laughs.
According to Leena, the humorous linguistic mistakes that resulted were part of a positive working community, and her most important lesson was: “Where there is a will, there is also a way.”
Janne Lihavainen, who became managing director in 2007, led Prisma Estonia for ten years. According to him, the most important aspect of leadership was understanding cultural differences.
“Values do not live in strategy documents, but in everyday work,” he summarises.
During Janne’s time, the number of Prisma stores in Estonia grew to eight: five in Tallinn, two in Tartu, and one in Narva. Towards the end of his tenure, however, the company experienced a slight decline in market share.
After Lihavainen moved to a position as development director within the parent company, the SOK Group, Jussi Nummelin arrived from the Lidl chain to lead Prisma Estonia. His task was to further expand the store network and develop its operating model. The results included the first supermarkets to operate around the clock in 2018, a drive-in collection service for online shoppers, and more active exports of Estonian food products to the shelves of Prisma stores in Finland.
The final head of Prisma Estonia, from 2019 until this spring, was the approachable Teemu Kilpiä, who oversaw the chain as it grew to a total of 13 stores.
“There may be a hierarchy within a company, but ultimately, even within an organisation, it is one person talking to another,” he says.
According to Teemu, shared goals that are experienced and pursued together within the workplace are also the foundation of success. He is currently putting these lessons into practice as the head of Sokos Hotel Viru.
Do you have any special memories of Prisma in Estonia? Tell us about them on our Facebook page.
To learn more about this and similar topicsacquisition Coop Grocery Stores Prisma retail chain SOK supermarkets
