FINLAND’S BIGGEST D From VillageShop to a tourist attraction The story of our family as merchants begins in the youth of my greatgrandfather’s great-grandfather, Kustaa. In the 19th century he was travelling merchant in the region of Tuuri village. His son Matias continued his trade as traveling merchant. However, Matias died in the prime of his life, and his eldest son Toivo, then only 17 years old, had to take care of his mother and eight siblings. This young man was my grandfather. bold person, together with my personnel, I have a good chance to succeed. I had developed in my mind a unique vision: turning the Kyläkauppa into a tourist attraction. I wanted to turn it into an unparalleled tourist attraction, completed with events and atmosphere. That is the road I took and now here we are. In 1946 Toivo established his first stationary shop in the closet of his little red house. In 1969 he moved his shop to the Kyläkauppa’s current location. Toivo’s sons, Matti and Mikko, purchased the company from their father in 1976 and changed its name to Veljekset Keskinen Oy (Brothers Keskinen Ltd). After a decade of joint entrepreneurship, in 1986, Mikko sold his share to his brother Matti, my father. I have been the captain of the Kyläkauppa for more than two decades. Much has happened to make true the vision of turning the Kyläkauppa into a tourist attraction, but fortunately, I still have some interesting ideas to complete. Welcome to the VillageShop and to sharing our story together! The following year, straight from the high school, I became an apprentice to my father. The next seven years under the authority of my father were filled with continuous buying and selling. In 1994, at the age of 26, I became the CEO of Veljekset Keskinen Oy, with full of enthusiasm and faith to the company’s developement. I wanted to make it a Kyläkauppa (VillageShop) with capital letters. I strongly believed that, as an appropriately unorthodox and Vesa Keskinen CEO, Veljekset Keskinen Oy
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