Finns go on booze cruises to Latvia

Take note – story published 7 years ago

As alcohol in Tallinn isn't as cheap as it used to be, Finns who used to go to Estonia to stock up on booze have turned a page and are now going to Latvia's Valka, reported Finnish public broadcaster YLE via the Iltalehti daily Friday.

Italehti reported store owners at Latvia's Valka - right on the border with Estonia - as saying that busloads of Finns, but also individuals in their own cars, come to Latvia to stock up on cheap booze.

On some days, one store owner said, "It seems like there are only Finns here."

The newspaper reports that a liter-bottle of Russian Standard vodka costs €24.99 in Tallinn, and just €13.74 in Valka, making the more time consuming trip to Latvia economically sound not only from a Finnish, but an Estonian point of view.

Recently the third liquor store was about to open in Valka, a town of just 6,000-people.

Previously Estonia's Health Ministry expressed worry about the cross-border alcohol trade carried out by Estonian companies on the Latvian side of the border. 

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