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| Selling ice to Arctic dwellers proves easy at new kiosk Swarms devour soft-serve, slushes, burgers and other new offerings as expanded Mix Isbjørn relocates to Lompensenteret
It's not like there's a shortage of slush in Longyearbyen, but Gry Sneltuedt found herself overwhelmed by demand for it anyhow, churning out 90 liters of a sugar-infused variety from a new machine the first day her Mix Isbjørn kiosk opened in a new and larger location in Lompensenteret. The 177-square-meter shop, twice the size of the former location, was packed much of Friday as curious locals and visitors from a 3,400-passenger cruise ship checked out the much-expanded snack bar, souvenir and grocery offerings. Most Mix franchises focus on prepared foods, confections, lottery tickets and publications, but Sneltuedt is among those making additions to fit the community's needs. "If you come to a Mix kiosk in a small town in Norway they all have their own concept," she said. "For us it's the souvenirs and it's a little bit of the food like they have at Svalbardbutikken." The idea isn't to compete with Longyearbyen's only supermarket, but allowing people to buy essentials during holidays and hours when it is closed, she said. On opening day locals showed the most enthusiasm for new snack bar items including the slushes, soft-serve ice cream and hamburgers, Sneltuedt said. There's also a couple aisles and a large refrigerator/freezer shelf unit with more basic provisions, compared to a few small shelves before. She said she'll seek to further modify the store to suit the needs of locals when tourist season winds down. "The thing I want to do is when we come to August and September is ask people what they want," she said. Sneltuedt, who moved to Longyearbyen in 1993 after working intermittently for years in Ny Ålesund, opened Mix with two partners where Kroa is now. The kiosk relocated to a space across the parking lot from Lompensenteret and Sneltuedt eventually bought out the other partners. She said two years remained on the rental agreement there, but she was unable to extend it and therefore made the move out of necessity. Available retail space is scarce, but the current location was vacated by Svalbardbutikken when they moved their electronic and other non-food items into their main building last year. Sneltuedt said she signed the new rental agreement May 5, and construction and other arrangements proved to be the biggest challenge as a project estimated to take eight weeks was completed in less than six. "I was afraid things weren't going to work because we were going to fast," she said. There's still a few problems to be worked out, "but there's always going to be something." |
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