Large service station stores cause withering of services in small municipalities

ABC chain leads the way

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Service station stores and other multifaceted concentrations of stores are likely to hurt the centres of small municipalities across Finland.
      The modern service stations resemble shopping malls, taking services away from old parish centres and transferring them to new locations alongside main roads, as a small population is not sufficient to maintain both centres.
      Such large service stations have become common in recent years. The ABC service station chain, which is a part of the S-Group, has been leading the way, while others have followed.
     
Panu Lehtovuori, the head of the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies at the Helsinki University of Technology, says that those who lose in the process are the aged who will find it difficult to reach the necessary services. Moreover, people’s dependence on cars is bound to increase.
      ”Finnish villages are losing their crucial services, while only residential areas are left behind”, Lehtovuori argues.
      For example in Tuulos, a small municipality in Tavastia Proper, the local authorities’ customer service desk is also to be transferred to the junction of Highways 10 and 12 from the beginning of 2009, when the municipality joins the City of Hämeenlinna.
      A plan to build another Ideapark shopping centre in Vihti has been criticised, as the only easy way to reach the new mall would be by car.
      Lehtovuori notes further that the recent trend also has other disadvantages. For example, the value of properties in the old population centre is likely to drop, while handsome old parish centres are replaced by new service station complexes that are similar all over the country.
      ”I do not believe that there is one single municipality in Finland that would not be affected by the current trend in one way or another”, Lehtovuori concludes.
     
According to professor Helka-Liisa Hentilä, from the Department of Architecture at the University of Oulu, the authorities of Finnish municipalities do not pay much attention to the way in which such service station stores affect the structure of the municipality.
      Land use planning decisions are made in an ecstasy of growth optimism, while no downstream negative consequences are pondered. In fact, municipalities do not want to reject any investments, as they are said to increase employment.
      ”Increasing the number of jobs has become a force majeure, which apparently entitles the decision-makers to do just about anything”, argues professor in urban planning and design Terttu Pakarinen from the Department of Architecture at the Tampere University of Technology.
     
ABC chain manager Heikki Strandén points out that large service stations create new jobs in small municipalities, increasing their tax revenues and bringing ”more well-being”. He rejects the allegations made by researchers that service station stores would ruin existing population centres.
      ”It might be the case in some localities, but generally speaking I do not believe that it holds true”, Strandén argues.
      Currently, there are around 90 ABC service station units in Finland. In addition to petrol sales, restaurants, and groceries, nearly 20 per cent of them also accommodate shops kept by entrepreneurs who do not belong to the ABC chain, for example bookstores.
      The ABC chain plans to open ten new ABC stores or smaller ABC Deli units in 12 months.
      Strandén notes that the reason for the popularity of ABC stores is the fact that people no longer have time to make separate shopping trips, but they want to have all services under the same roof.
     
According to researchers, this kind of service station units should have another alternative, which would take into account even the old population centre.
      ”The population of small municipalities is not sufficient to maintain two active centres”, professor Pakarinen concludes.


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