Event Week: Farewell to the Alko Museum Shop

There’s still time to visit the Alko shop of the 1930s and marvel at the first steps in alcohol sales after Prohibition.

Alko stores opened after the end of Prohibition on 5 April 1932. The shop on display at the Hotel and Restaurant Museum is a fine example of the 1930s, when products were sold behind the counter with the bottom of the bottle facing the customer and sales staff were not allowed to recommend products.

The shop has been on display at the museum since the late 1990s. Before that, it was on display in the Alko Shop Museum. The time has come to move the museum pieces to the collections for a while for a rest.

The museum shop is open until 7 September 2025, during the museum’s opening hours. We will also be celebrating the last week of the store with events in Finnish:

Tue 2.9. at 17.00 Lecture: When Alko shops opened (in Finnish). What was it like to shop in a newly opened liquor store?. What kind of alcohol culture prevailed in post-Prohibition Finland? In this lecture, we dive into the museum shop era of the 1930s. The lecturer will be curator Anni Aaltonen.

Wed 3.9. at 14.00 and Thu 4.9. at 17.00 Guided tour (in Finnish). Finnish alcohol history will not leave you cold. During the tour, we will reflect on the peculiarities of alcohol culture in Finland. The guide is museum educator Aino Malminen.

The guided tours can accommodate 20 participants, the lecture 30. Participation with museum entrance fee. No pre-registration required, places are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.