Never before have the shopping centers in the Swedish border towns of Nordby, Charlottenberg and Töcksfors generated more revenue than over the recent long Easter holidays in Norway. With more holidays looming in May, Swedish merchants can look forward to more boom times ahead.
“We had a fantastic week last week and set a record again,” Madeleine Ward, leder of Charlottenbergs Shoppingcenter, told Nettavisen. She reported a total of 157,046 visitors, up 11 percent compared to Easter last year.
Stores in Sweden remain open on holidays when most everything in Norway is locked up, and prices are, as usual, as much as 40 percent lower on some popular items like soft drinks, sweets and beer. The Nordby Shopping Center near Svinesund, which ranks as largest of all the border area centers and easiest to reach from Oslo, also reported an “all time high,” with revenues up 5 percent to around NOK 150 million.
“I think everyone had a good Easter,” said Töcksfors Shoppingcenter leader Lars Erik Erøy. Shopping in Sweden has become even more popular after the Norwegian government imposed a higher tax on sugar and products with sugar.
newsinenglish.no staff
