On Thursday morning at 10 o’clock, the store chain Yellow opened in Åsane Storsenter. Already two hours before, the first people were in place, and in the hours leading up to the opening, the queue got longer and longer, until it finally stretched all the way to the opposite side of the centre.
Yellow’s management estimated that there were between 700 and 800 people in the queue.
At the front of the queue we met Tine Mariell Gjelten Størdal from Knarvik and Hege Camilla Fonnes from Ervik. They arrived and lined up at 08.15, just under two hours before Yellow opened.
Need good running shoes
– We have been planning this since they announced the event. Then someone in the group said that we had to be here early. The queue is already quite long, says Størdal to Åsane Tidende when we talk to them half an hour before opening.
– What are you looking for?
– We want to secure cheap Hoka shoes. We do dog training and run with the dogs, and then we need good running shoes. The price we have heard is NOK 600 per pair, which is at least half the price.
– Are you only looking for shoes?
– We have to look around a bit when we first get here, says Fonnes.
– What do you think that Yellow has come to Åsane?
– We think that is good. This store will probably become popular as the prices are otherwise in the market now. Everything has become very expensive, and this store sells brands at a reasonable price, say the two.
Strong opening offers made many people visit Yellow when the chain opened for the very first time in Bergen, specifically at Åsane storsenter.
– Hardly slept
Inside the store we find an excited store manager.
– I hardly slept last night, smiles Alice Bettum.
– Has it been hectic in the morning hours?
– We did most of the preparatory work yesterday, so this morning it hasn’t been so busy. But I expect it will be hectic when we open the doors.
– The queue stretches through the entire center – were you prepared for such great interest?
– There have been long queues both in Drammen and at Sotra, so we are not very surprised.
– What are people particularly concerned about securing?
– Hoka shoes. We also saw that at Sartor. The shoes flew out of the store in 25 minutes. There were a thousand shoes. We also have a thousand Hoka shoes in the store now, and we expect them to disappear quickly. But each individual customer can only take three pairs each, emphasizes Bettum, who is from Fedje but lives in Flaktveit.
Several hours before Yellow opened the doors at Åsane shopping centre, there was a queue, and when the clock struck 10.00 there were between 700 and 800 people waiting in a line many hundreds of meters long. It is clear that the brand chain is popular with the mountain dwellers.
– Didn’t expect so many
Trude Navarsete is CEO of Yellow. She smiled widely when she saw the queue.
– We now estimate that there are between 700 and 800 in the queue just before opening. There have never been so many people at a Yellow opening, she says.
– Are you surprised?
– I had hoped that many people would come, but I did not expect that there would be quite as many as there are here now, where the queue stretches all the way to the opposite side of the centre.
There are only minutes left until the opening when we talk to the director. She is excited.
– Absolutely. I hardly slept last night. I’m sick and happy about another one, but it’s very nice, Navarsete smiles.
Ten minutes after the opening, we meet Tine Størdal and Hege Fonnes again with shopping baskets full of Hoka shoes.
– Are you satisfied?
– Yes very. There was a bit of trying on shoes and such, but there will be more than one pair on each, the ladies assure.