Alanya Market, the ethnic grocery store opened in Itis, opened its doors on Saturday and caused a rush of customers.
More than 20,000 customers visited Alanya Market, which opened in Helsinki’s Itis shopping center over the weekend. The longest queue time for the store was 1.5 hours, says the merchant in charge of Alanya Markets Emin Gürmüc.
The number of customers entering the store had to be limited when the mass of people inside the 2,000-square-meter store became too large and the checkout queues winding along the store made it difficult to do business.
The store also has a fish counter. Inka Soveri
– A couple of times it seemed like the situation was on, when people bumped into each other. That made me feel bad. We then decided that we would take on 400 customers at a time. There was a little drama, but in the end we made the customers smile and everyone was satisfied, says Gürmüc.
The shelves were quickly emptied
The most popular product of the opening weekend was meat. For the opening, 140 sheep carcasses and eight whole cattle, weighing more than a thousand kilos each, had been brought to the store.
– The meat was sold out the fastest. We will get fresh meat again the day after tomorrow, says Gürmüc.
The meat counter’s products sold quickly. Inka Soveri
– The fish counter’s products were also sold out, as were all the ready meals on both days. We also have a pastry shop here, where all products are made by hand. They were sold out too. In addition, we ran out of energy drinks and eggs. And fresh herbs, Gürmüc lists.
Frozen foods and sweets also sold, whose shelves were half empty, according to Gürmüc.
– We didn’t expect this at all. It was quite a hassle here.
Even on Monday morning, the store is busy.
Shelves have had to be diligently filled in Alanya Market. Inka Soveri
– We are completely broke. We have worked really hard. Last night we had to shelve things for this morning, Gürmüc says, but notes that the rush of customers feels good.
– We are really satisfied. I would say that 60 percent of the customers were native Finns. I stood at the door to welcome all the customers, and I saw a lot of new faces.
Gürmüc believes that the rush of customers is due to the media attention the store received and the strong Tiktok popularity.
– Children may watch Tiktok and then attract the whole family to shop with us, and suddenly the cart is full of food.