Let's see if I will still earn points with my Stockmann card next year for grocery shopping. Osuuskaupa is going to buy Stockmann's delicatessen unit.

https://www.s-kanava.fi/web/tok/uuti...3911916_384136

Stockmann Herkku is the only reason why I currently have the "Exclusive" card with Stockmann and why I'm on a good course to get "Stockmann First". But without Herkku, I'll certainly fall back to basic.

Regardless of the card thing though, I'm really sad about this news, as there isn't really any other decent grocery shop around :(

This is probably the biggest mistake Stockmann has made so far.

Herkku was a brand. Of course, it was only a matter of time. But to sell it to SOK? Really, guys?

So, where shall we fly for groceries now? TLL Herkku?

Sounds like it was a brand without future and made only huge loss.

Couple of years ago in a HS article (can't find link now) they said that Herkku was the only profitable part of Stockmann. Must have enhanced it.

First visit to the new "green" Herkku/Delikatessen. No more AY+ points for earning/spending. I could use the S-card but then again if I start collecting S points why shouldn't I buy everything else at Sokos. And if I continue to show Stockmann card I will get nothing. I guess (didn't ask) that even the Stockmann Mastercard cash back has also been removed. The days of Stockmann are coming to end. The nice old staff and the high quality selection are still there.

Sucks.

You may actually be better off collecting the S-bonus and then using your S-bonus to buy AY+ points at list prices.

For comparison: 1500 euro purchase with Stockmann card would earn you either 1500, 2250 or 3000 points depending on the color of your Stockmann loyal customer card. 1500 euros purchase in a month would earn you 75 euros of S-bonus, which could be exchanged to nearly 6000 points at list prices from Finnair. (OT: just noticed that 1000 points nowadays costs 12.88 euros, and iirc it used to be 12.50 euros. Inflation?)

So: If you spend 1500 euros on your S-card per month, you are at least twice as good off just buying your AY+ points. To be as well off, you would need to spend an amount earning 2.5% bonus with S-group (=400 euros per month e.g. with HOK-Elanto) if you were a First member with Stockmann. If you are only a basic member, you would be as good as now with just 200 euros monthly spend which would get you to 1.5% earnings level.

Double dipping with Diners etc. cards is not factored to this math as you could double dip with either option.

Great, I always like when one thinks out of the box. S card it will be.

Going further out of the box, another option that might be even better is to use the S-bonus to buy revenue tickets, earning additional tier points too :D

And because this is Flyertalk, we need to optimize (=maximize) the amount of S-bonus we get for our spend. To do that, don't get the HOK bonus card. It requires 1500eur/month for the full 5% bonus. Instead look for alternate places to get the card, e.g. TOK (Turun Osuuskauppa), which gives you the same 5% for just 900eur/month. You can get the e.g. the TOK card even in the Helsinki region, just let them know you want to join TOK and not HOK.

You forgot the 10€ vouchers you receive for every 300€ grocery spending in a month at Stockmann. With the spending you calculate you are anyway at least Exclusive.

Where does that leave me and my ~200€ monthly grocery expenses :?

Regarding quality, I reckon Herkku has to keep using the same supplier for more some months. So we only see the big quality "enhancement" later this year.