To bring some fun to the Christmas food shop, supermarket chain Iceland has trialled a new concept – Shopping on Ice.

A world first, supermarket aisles in Iceland’s Stratford branch were transformed to ice. A team of 12 ice rink experts worked through the night, refitting the entire store with 250 square meters of synthetic ice to complete the spectacular transformation.

Having been named the UK’s top supermarket for customer satisfaction numerous times, the brand-new experience aimed to bring some fun to what is often seen as just another festive chore – the Christmas food shop. The rink was installed in response to new research, commissioned by Iceland, which found that four in five parents (83%) wish they had more time to enjoy the run up to the big day.

A locker room area was installed where shoppers were invited to swap their footwear for skates, meaning  they could glide through the aisles as they picked up their essentials ready for Christmas.

With nine in 10 children (89%) finding the Christmas food shop boring, Iceland added some extra fun to the experience with penguin aids to help them skate along between the freezers and shelves.

The in-store skating trial passed the test of two professional skaters who took to the ice delighting shoppers with a performance.

Neil Hayes, Marketing Director at Iceland says: “At Iceland we know Christmas is and exciting time, however it can be a struggle for lots of families as there’s so much to do.  We wanted to add some magic to Christmas food shopping and the in store skating experience has certainly done that.”