Iceland breaks into Norwegian market

NORTH Wales-based supermarket giant Iceland has opened its first store in Norway.

Shoppers queued for opening of the store at Asker, in the Greater Oslo region, earlier this week.

The 280 sq m store, is operated by Iceland’s new franchise partner Ice Nordic. A second store in Larvik, Vestfold, is scheduled to open early next month and Ice Nordic is seeking further sites across the country.

Iceland Group operations director Ewan McMahon said: “It was great to see the new store receive such a hugely enthusiastic response, with sales on the first day far exceeding expectations. It was particularly pleasing to see so many young people in the store, and to experience everyone’s very positive reaction to our iconic Iceland frozen food range.

“This is a particularly exciting development for Iceland International because, although we have operated a successful franchised store model for very many years, most of our existing overseas franchises are in areas with substantial British expatriate communities. While we do have a growing following among non-British customers in countries like Spain and Portugal, there is no question that in Norway we are appealing overwhelmingly to Norwegians – and we are really delighted that they have given us such an outstanding welcome.”