TikTok turned my shop into coolest place for the kids
Store owner is thrilled to go viral
A SHOP in Gosport has gone viral after customers travelled hours to buy American sweets and Tango Ice Blast.
Millions of people watched a clip of the Premier convenience store in Wych Lane and saw the huge variety of confectionary it had on sale.
People have travelled from across the UK because of the social media hype, with one customer spending £331 in the store.
Manager Imityaz Mamode said he couldn’t believe how his business went viral.
He said: ‘It’s been wonderful.
‘When everyone knows about you, and travels hours to come here, it means you’re doing something right.
‘The hype with the youngsters made us famous, and our shop got millions of views on TikTok.
‘When we went viral, we never changed our prices, and just wanted to find more suppliers and products to sell.’
The store became famous after some TikTokers travelled two-and-a-half hours to buy Tango Ice Blasts and other American sweets.
Customer demand has been through the roof ever since – helped by the endless array of products on offer.
Imityaz started stocking products from across the Atlantic after some customer recommendations.
The manager, who opened the shop in 2019, said he hasn’t looked back since.
He added: ‘We had a few to start with, but over time, the demand started to increase.
‘When we went viral, we never changed our prices.
‘We wanted to find more suppliers and figure out the cheapest prices that we can sell for.’
Imityaz said the range of products and the prices are the reasons behind the surge in demand and country-wide popularity.
The best-selling lines at the store include Hershey’s, Jolly Ranchers, Reece’s, Cheetos – alongside rare flavours of Mountain Dew.
All these products are scarce in the UK, but the shop’s crowning jewel is the Tango Ice Blast machine.
A Tango Ice Blast is a flavoured slushy usually seen in cinemas.
Imityaz said it cost between £7,000 and £10,000, but was well worth the price.
He added: ‘We decided to have one but it was really expensive at the time.
‘On the first week though, we almost sold 2,000 cups.
‘The machine broke because it was overused!’
Imityaz explained he usually expands his product lines and the shop every six months.
He keeps his customers up to date on Facebook and holds back stock for customers on request.
Eggnog was brought into the store for Christmas, and it sold out the same day it was brought in.
The manager hopes to continue to keep up with the demand.
He said: ‘Demand is always high and we rarely can’t meet it.
‘We’re just planning to increase our product lines and make all our customers happy.’