(Fredrikstad Blad): It literally boils at the Swedish shopping center on the Wednesday of Easter week.
Just hours before the holidays start, cars are already crowded out in the huge parking areas.
And that even though the center is open every day throughout Easter.
Because the yellow holiday season is, along with Christmas and the summer holidays, one of the busiest and most profitable at the centre.
– Monday to Wednesday it’s really fast here, smiles Patrik Zäll, store manager at the Nordic region’s largest grocery store, Nordby Supermarket.
– Several cars with Fredrikstad and Sarpsborg number plates
Every day during the Easter holidays, around 10,000 shoppers stop by.
This results in between 7,000-8,000 receipts at the cash registers, with an average of around NOK 1,000-1,200.
VIDEO: What do we actually shop for when we travel across the border?
In the last two weeks, Zäll has noticed that sales are back at the same level as in the glory days before the corona pandemic.
Why it is like that, he thinks, is complex, but they have noticed one thing in particular.
– There are more cars with Fredrikstad and Sarpsborg plates in the car park than before. So tolls have probably had some significance, says Zäll.
He believes the grocery store will have a turnover of between NOK 70 and 75 million in the Easter weeks.
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17 percent more will shop across borders
On 20 March, the many toll stations in Sarpsborg and Fredrikstad opened.
They will provide money for huge road projects – and get us to drive less.
But now it turns out that people have no intention of driving less to the border giants as a result of paying tolls.
In a survey Sentio conducted for Fredriksstad Blad earlier this year, participants were asked about the significance of the barriers in Nedre Glomma.
Would the toll cause them to shop more, less or just as much in Sweden as before?
Here, the answers point in the direction that cross-border trade habits will be maintained.
While 65 per cent say they will shop the same amount, 17 per cent respond that the toll will lead to them shopping more in Sweden.
Only two percent say they will shop less in Sweden as a result of toll payments.
– Part of the picture
The results do not surprise Zäll at Nordby Supermarket.
– There are several customers who have expressed frustration that they are being forced to pay yet another fee. There is a lot that is already expensive in Norway, including food, says the man who himself lives in Strömstad.
– And I don’t know if I can say that the increase we’ve had in the last two weeks can be attributed to the tolls you have to pay, but it’s probably part of the picture, he says.
Drove more car recently
When the previous 12-year period with tolls ended last year, the figures showed that we had by no means driven less cars, as was the aim.
More people had acquired a car, and we drove more passenger cars overall, the numbers showed. It is true that greenhouse gas emissions from the local car fleet decreased.
With the new toll package, the aim is for us to reduce car traffic in Fredrikstad and Sarpsborg by more than 12 per cent.
Will continue with wholesale
One of those who made the journey from Fredrikstad to Nordby this Wednesday is Torp resident Martin Karlsen Werner Gundersen (43).
He stands with many others and fills the small goody bag for the children.
– I am not going to change my shopping habits as a result of the tolls. We wholesale here once a month, and we will continue to do so, he says.
Now before Easter, he has been here twice in a short time.
– The first Easter treat we bought disappeared faster than planned, he laughs.
The father of the family says he does his usual shopping before Easter, but that there might be a little more of everything – and a lot more sweets too.
– Usually there will also be some meat products. It’s much cheaper, he says.
– Marks that it has become more expensive here as well
The married couple Bache-Mathiesen from Sarpsborg are also in the process of filling the shopping basket.
– I haven’t had time to think too much about the fact that we now have to pay tolls, because it is still quite new, says Øivind Bache-Mathiesen (82).
The married couple shop in Sweden every three weeks, and say they will continue as before.
– Price has always been important, although we notice that food has also become more expensive here, says his wife Bärbel Bache-Mathiesen (76).
23,000 bottles of Pepsi Max
Store manager Patrik Zäll says that customers spend an average of a couple of hundred Swedish kroner more when they fill their shopping basket at Easter.
Last year, the store had a turnover of NOK 1.2 billion. It requires both enough employees and goods to keep the wheels turning.
– Today, for example, we have 95 people at work. And I can’t sit in the office, he smiles, as he stacks pasta on the shelves.
He says that, for example, they have two or three employees who “only” work to fill up with the popular soft drink Pepsi Max.
– Now we sell 60 pallets every day, laughs Zäll.
It gives a bit of a dimension: On one pallet there are 96 four-packs of soft drinks, i.e. 384 bottles.
– So 60 pallets of soft drinks means that we sell just over 23,000 bottles in a day, illustrates the store manager.
Norwegians are also among the most soft drink-loving people in the world.
Figures from the brewery industry show that we drank an average of 142 pints of artificial soda each in 2021.
– Almost a 50 percent increase
With colleague and store manager Ole Jørgen Lind at Maxi Mat, there is also a good atmosphere and a good chef.
– Ever since the winter holidays, we have had a great upswing here. We noticed that people started going on trips again when the worst of the winter weather had subsided, he says.
And since then it has only gone up.
– Compared to Easter last year, we have had an increase of almost 50 per cent. It is extraordinary, and we are heading for a record Easter, says Lind, who himself lives in Halden.
The provisional record Easter – and the year 2019 – is therefore set to fall.
– Only we can do something about ourselves
But what the cause is, Haldenser also believes, is complex.
– I think tolls in Sarpsborg and Fredrikstad have had some effect. After all, they have been loyal customers for years. But I think there are several reasons for the growth, he says.
Lind points out that animal times are at their “worst” now, with the latest interest rate hike and persistently high food prices in Norway.
– Food trade and prices are one of the only things we can do something about ourselves. Debt, municipal taxes and electricity are set. Therefore, I think more people probably see that there is money to be saved by shopping with us, he believes.
40,000 visitors every day
Inside the grocery stores, we meet many customers from Fredrikstad, Råde, Sarpsborg, Moss and Halden, but also Vestby, Oslo and Mandal.
Many are on their way on the Easter holiday, or fill the basket before Easter at home.
Center manager Ståle Løvheim at Nordby says the center is back on the good, old track.
– We now have around 40,000 visitors every day, and the prices are probably the main reason, he says.
– Part of many people’s tradition
And he knows what he’s talking about.
Løvheim, who lives in Sarpsborg, has been in charge as center manager for 20 years.
He says we Norwegians like to go on trips.
Whether it’s in the mountains, abroad or just here in Nordby.
– So part of the reason for the many customers is probably also that it is part of many people’s tradition. There is something social about it, he says.
He himself does not think the tolls in Nedre Glomma will have such a big impact.
– When there were tolls on the Svinesund Bridge, we did not notice any decrease for that reason. And there was no recovery when the payment stopped either, he illustrates.
That 17 percent more people from our region will now shop at the border because of tolls is music to his ears.
– It’s great fun, and we have room for everyone. I think we’re going to have a very good time, smiles Løvheim.
Tags: Sweden Fredrikstad Blad people crossborder trade result tolls Heading record Easter
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