Cooperative KPO is gaining growth across business sectors
In 120 years, KPO has become one of Finland’s leading regional cooperatives, reaching almost 1.2 billion euros in sales. It also holds the title of both Ostrobothnia’s largest grocery chain and the region’s leading provider of transportation energy solutions.
To stay at the forefront of competition, KPO has invested heavily in making its customers’ grocery shopping experience even better.
“We have almost finished modernising our 80 grocery stores after a concept overhaul. This has included redesigning store environments, introducing new services such as self-service checkouts, and improving energy technologies”, says CEO Kim Biskop.
However, Biskop points out that KPO is much more than a leading grocery chain.
“We are also gaining significant growth in other retail segments such as fashion, as well as in the hotel, restaurant, and car dealership sectors.”
April 2024 was a busy time for KPO, as the new Sokos store and the renovated Original Sokos Hotel Royal both opened in the centre of Vaasa on the same day. Despite online shopping’s popularity, the Sokos store that offers beauty, fashion, and home decor products has been a great success.
“Sales have been higher than expected. Since the original Sokos Vaasa closed in 1993, our customers have wanted it back – and it really shows in the numbers”, Biskop states.
“Sokos Vaasa’s popularity highlights the fact that customers still appreciate physical shops despite Sokos having an extensive online store as well”, he continues.
The newly renovated Original Sokos Hotel Royal is located just a few hundred metres from the Rewell shopping centre where the Sokos store is. Not only did the hotel’s interior and exterior receive a full makeover, but it also became Finland’s most energy-efficient Sokos Hotel.
“In Royal, different technologies have been innovatively combined. The hotel’s heating comes mainly from geothermal energy while its electricity is generated from wind and solar power. It is also Finland’s first hotel that recovers heat from wastewater.”
Royal has excellent facilities for visitors, including a pool, sauna department, small movie theatre, and multiple conference rooms.
“Vaasa’s large energy cluster brings a lot of business travellers to the city. The new Royal helps us fulfil their needs even better”, Biskop says.
Although the hotel is open, there is still more to come – the rest of the rooms are being renovated across the street. When finished later in 2025, the hotel will have 300 rooms in total.
Vaasa is not the only place where KPO is investing in tourism infrastructure. Kokkola will get a completely new Sokos Hotel in the city centre, and the construction is planned to start in 2025.
“This hotel will be even more energy-efficient than Royal”, Biskop reveals.
Thanks especially to its inorganic chemical industry ecosystem, Kokkola accommodates a lot of business travellers like Vaasa.
“The hotel capacity in Kokkola has been insufficient for a long time, so this hotel with more than 200 rooms is a very welcome addition. KPO’s goal is to have 1,000 hotel rooms across our region’s coastal cities in the future, and these new investments will bring us very close to that.”
Another area where KPO has been growing is automotive retail. The cooperative’s car dealerships Nystedt, Maakunnan Auto, and Automaa have locations around Coastal, South, and Central Ostrobothnia. On top of selling both used and new cars from multiple manufacturers, KPO’s dealerships offer all repair services.
“Every third new car you see on the Ostrobothnian roads has been bought from us. To expand our operations in this business sector even further, we are opening a new dealership in Vaasa in the spring of 2025”, Biskop states.
KPO’s growth has created an increasing need for employees. In just a few years, it has hired 200 new permanent employees.
“In the summer of 2024, we also had 1,400 summer employees, which is a record number of us.”
However, Biskop emphasises that KPO’s growth has not come at the expense of the environment. The cooperative has invested in lowering the carbon emissions of not only its hotels, but also all its new and redesigned stores.
“The hypermarket Prisma Liisanlehto that opened in Vaasa in 2022 is Finland’s most energy-efficient Prisma and completely carbon-neutral. KPO’s own wind parks and tens of thousands of solar panels help us lower our emissions throughout our business units.”
