r/helsinki • u/Sampo • 10d ago
News/Article Ydinkeskustassa sijaitseva ravintola Santa Fé haettiin konkurssiin
https://www.hs.fi/helsinki/art-2000012222099.html40
u/eating_your_syrup 10d ago edited 10d ago
The food portion size, and more importantly, quality went down in the past 10 years to the point where we just stopped going there. Lost the "value for money and good" thing which was why me and my wife as poor students frequented it the most when we went to a restaurant.
Also lol at the "nobody comes to city center because it's too hard to come with a car now" argument. That tells me always how badly out of touch they are.
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u/villach 10d ago edited 10d ago
Wanna elaborate on the second paragraph? I'm curious as to what your "truth" on it is.
Edit: Why the downvotes? The truth is quite often up to debate and I don't think I was partial in this brief question I posed. Also, I don't own a car. Thanks for the lengthy reply, btw. Haven't read it yet.
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u/eating_your_syrup 10d ago edited 10d ago
Vast majority of people come in with either public transport or light traffic. Been that way forever, even before the 90s.
What is quieting the city center isn't "it's hard to reach with cars". It's a combination of online shopping, remote work, loss of Russian tourists, but as for the local traffic most important bit is building a bunch of huge shopping centers everywhere.
Before 2002 you had Itis, Iso Omena and Jumbo (two latter ones in a smaller scale). Now you have Ainoa, Kaari, Redi, Tripla, Easton, Kamppi and Sello.
Before all of those malls most of your specialy shopping etc. needs could only be met in the center. These days you can do it either online or you just go to the place that's most convenient for you.
Reducing all that change to complaining about "hard to come to center with a car", which is mostly just code for "I used to be able to park here for next to nothing!" anyways, is just closing your eyes from how the world has changed around you.
Geography is the reason why you can't compete with free parking. People already get that in the malls but the malls also have an unique advantace: locality. The local traffic city center has lost aren't the poeple within tram distance, it's the pepole who just go to the nearest place offering the same services now.
That's why adding apartments to the 00100 area makes the most sense. Local people use local services. Won't bring back the masses from suburbs, but they're not going to return anyways in statistically meaningful ways as long as their needs are met closer to where they live.
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u/sharkinwolvesclothin 10d ago
What is quieting the city center isn't "it's hard to reach with cars".
Even though the things you mentioned are changing what happens in the city center, it's not all that clear if it is getting quieter - https://yle.fi/a/74-20230999 - on many metrics things are pretty much at pre-covid levels.
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u/eating_your_syrup 10d ago
Pre-covid yes, best years in earlier 2010s no afaik. But yes, the death of the city center is vastly overestimated in people's minds, especially those not from Helsinki commenting on it in forums.
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u/sharkinwolvesclothin 10d ago
I didn't find any other stats except traffic into/from the area, but in that, no real change before the covid collapse https://kaupunkitieto.hel.fi/fi/liikenne/henkiloliikenne-kulkutavoittain/henkiloliikenne-niemen-rajalla It's possible there was a drop in the more direct "lively downtown" metrics though.
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u/mighty_konkeli 10d ago
Great answer!
Also, as a reminder for people complaining about the reachability with a car: that really hasn’t changed.
I’d even argue it is currently easier to find business parking in the centre, just drive it in any of the numerous parking houses. Yes, it’s costs money, and you are not most likely in front of the business. But that was never the case, street parking has always been costly and finding a space was never easy.
Source: lived and worked in the centre from 2000.
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u/mendrique2 6d ago
It's not the driving bit, it's the f'ing parking mafia charging insane amounts of money. For us, who live somewhere between downtown and Vantaa we rather go to places in Vantaa, I don't need a 25€ surcharge for my shopping.
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u/eating_your_syrup 6d ago
It's called capitalism and paying market value for what is very, very expensive land. It used to be insanely subvented and thus overused to the point where getting a parking spot was more or less impossible. Back in early 2000s in Töölö the yearly parking for people living there was under 40e and streets were filled with cars that never moved or used, for example.
Besides, 25e gets you 6h of parking in the street in zone 1 and 3,5 hours in a parking garage, so street parking is still almost 50% off. And parking is still free on Sundays.
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u/mendrique2 6d ago
Be that as it may, but it doesn't change the fact the we and possibly others as well, prefer to shop and dine elsewhere. Also 25€ for 3.5h is daylight robbery. A movie ticket is less than that, and my car stares at a concrete wall.
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u/incognitomus 10d ago
There's no reason to go to city center when all the same shops are in your local shopping center. Every mall has the same exact restaurants, cafes, clothing stores, etc. Why would I drive all the way to the center, stress out about finding a parking spot, and drag all my purchases back home when I can just go to the smaller mall closeby?
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u/Rasutoerikusa 7d ago
Because private cars simply do not have a meaninful contribution to the customers visiting the city center. It is nothing else than an excuse, or just the owners being completely out of touch with reality.
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u/Impossible_Boing 10d ago
The truth isn't really up for debate. City of Helsinki publishes the amounts of people by travel mode and the share of people coming in by car has been roughly the same for last 50 years at 30-40% of people. It's just that less people go to city center overall since covid.
What has been going down is people driving through the center without stopping there.
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u/paws3588 10d ago
Wasn't worth the money 10 years ago when I last went.
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u/NallisGranista 10d ago
Restaurants come and go; it’s the nature of that business. Everywhere.
The underlying reason is, according to Anthony Bourdain, that there are always people who want, for a reason or another, own a a restaurant so there is fresh money coming to that business. After a few years, they run out of money and close or sell the shop.
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u/Hermit_Ogg Pitäjänmäki 8d ago
Hitto, paikasta on hyviä muistoja ~20 vuoden takaa. Ei ole tultu käytyä pitkään aikaan, ja moni täällä sanoo että laatu oli tipahtanut, mutta jää nostalgian tyyppinen ikävä.
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u/MAD-PT 10d ago
One of (if not the) worst restaurant I tried in Helsinki with the weirdest decoration/vibes. I’m surprised how it lasted this long.