Cross-border shopping provides jobs
A car park that's choc-a-bloc and a pace that's pumping. The crowds of people provide energy and a sense of pleasure. No customers, no life. And in the midst of all this cross-border shopping, Agneta and Leif Sjöberg live their everyday lives.
Offers, of course. And a special - extra large - Norway menu at this hamburger chain which is otherwise so standardised. Within the circular layout of the Charlottenberg shopping centre, people can buy spirits, pork and cigarettes - things which people have liked buying for a long time. But they can also buy clothing, footwear and electronics. Famous brand names everywhere!
"Nothing else would work. The Norwegians are self-assured customers who have plenty of money."
Trading at Tallmon is a profitable and constantly growing market focusing entirely on our neighbours to the west. For Eda, this means job opportunities and development. The shopping centre alone employs more than 500 people, and last year 2.7 million people came here to shop.
"And we're just seeing more and more people coming in. Our turnover is increasing all the time, and some new buildings are planned. Is there a ceiling?" wonders Agneta, looking up from today's delivery: ten pallets of clothing and footwear.
She's the store manager at Sportshopen. Three years ago, she was faced with the task of employing 20 people and filling 3000 empty square metres of space with leisure equipment.
"Sure, I've done a lot of long days. But this is brilliant fun!"
Enjoys the everyday hustle and bustle
The break room deep inside the premises is the place where the members of the family go to meet. Daughter Victoria and her friend Thea move back and forth with aplomb, staff pop in, sandwiches are eaten for late lunches, and the telephone rings.
Leif, who's just finished his shift at Gränsrasta, comes over and takes a seat. When he has a quiet moment with his wife, he has to grab the opportunity to make the most of them.
Agneta explains that she enjoys the everyday hustle and bustle of her life. She likes having lots of things surrounding her, she enjoys controlling and manipulating, and she wants to make quick decisions. She's the kind of manager who you'll find working in the middle of everything, and working the hardest of all.
"If there's not enough to do, I'll end up getting lazy. Having lots of people around gives me energy."
Leif is the same. He's worked at the petrol station across the road for 28 years and watched how the area has changed.
Want to stay here
They remind one another other of what Charlottenberg looked like in the early 1980s, when they were both teenagers. Leif moonlighted at the petrol station and Agneta was in secondary school.
"We've known each other all our lives. That's just the way it is."
Both of them are comfortable with the thought and guard their home area jealously. Being able to stay here is important - that's what they've always thought.
"Charlottenberg is familiar, people know one another and are happy to lend a helping hand. But even so, there's always life and movement about the place, with a steady stream of unknown people.
Agneta remembers how she felt when she lost her job, and she thought she'd have to leave the area. Storgatan, which had previously been the centre for cross-border shopping, saw numbers of people dwindling.
TEXT: HELENA SÖDERQVIST PHOTO: MARIA OBED
"It all changed overnight. My first instinct was to panic. I saw my job disappear."
When she was offered the job as the store manager for the new Sportshopen, she accepted post-haste.
"That was a stroke of luck. If I'd understood the responsibility I'd bear and just how much work would be involved, I might have had second thoughts and hesitated."
Ready for high season
All the shops are ready for the start of peak season at this time of year. The goods delivery trucks are queuing with their consignments of goods. The season gets longer year on year. But really, only January can be called low season.
"It's nice in the first week, but then it gets boring."
No customers, no life. It's this quick meeting between people, giving them a service, which gives her satisfaction. Finding solutions, in all possible areas, and of course selling them things.
"I find it hard to imagine me doing anything else. Maybe I could work at an airport, the feel is quite similar I suppose. People all heading off in different directions and a massive mix of people of all different kinds. That's what I like," says Leif.
Agneta agrees. The pace that's pumping. There's something very special about a car park that's choc-a-bloc.
