Oslo’s largest souvenir shop chain goes bankrupt
The souvenir chain Norway Shop, with two stores in Oslo, is bankrupt. The Corona restrictions and few foreign tourists are the reasons for a difficult year for the company.
According to Dagens Næringsliv, The stores have, in the last three years, a turnover of more than 114 million NOK. This is through sales of, among other things, shaggy trolls, corkscrews with Norwegian flags, cheese slicers, and a variety of clothes with a Norwegian theme directed towards foreign tourists.
The company had a decrease in profit by 1.7 million 2019, which was an improvement from 4.1 million in 2018, but the Corona pandemic has put an abrupt stop to sales for the company.
-”SE retail has bought the company in the beginning of March. When the owners took over, Norway Shop was a store that struggled with their economy for a while, and the owners wanted to take over to make it profitable.”, said the owners spokesperson and former chairman of the board, lawyer Harald Ryen, to DN.
-”Then came Covid-19, and since the customer base is mainly foreign tourists, the turnover was almost lost overnight.”, said Ryen.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
