When nostalgia drives up costs
Prices for strip chewing gum are skyrocketing
September 29, 2023, 3:32 p.m
Sticks of chewing gum are increasingly rare in German supermarkets. If you don’t want to miss out on the popular chewing fun, you sometimes have to dig deep into your pockets online: a pack of 120 costs up to 70 euros there. What’s behind the sudden price jump.
The prices for strip chewing gum have skyrocketed in recent months. While the classic stripes can hardly be found in German supermarkets anymore, the products are offered on the Internet at sometimes immense prices. As “Spiegel” reports, a strip of the American brand Wrigley’s Spearmint is now selling for 60 cents. In Kaufland’s online retailer, a large pack of 120 items now costs around 70 euros.
Mars, Wrigley’s parent company, wants nothing to do with the sudden price jumps. According to “Spiegel”, the group referred to the individual dealers’ freedom of choice when it came to pricing. The real reason for the drastic price increase probably lies elsewhere: At the end of last year, Mars removed Wrigley’s chewing gum from its range and stopped further production. Since then, only remaining stocks of the iconic chewing gum have been available. The continued high demand is fueling the prices, which are now sometimes horrendous.
It’s not uncommon for nostalgia to drive up the value of goods. At the beginning of the year, Punica, the popular fruit juice from the Pepsico Group, disappeared from supermarket shelves. The price of the cult drink also rose rapidly. According to a report in the Osnabrück daily newspaper NOZ, eBay dealers were sometimes charging 50 times the previous purchase price.
The longing for past childhood days also fills the basement of the Freiburg brothers Thomas and Volker Martins. According to their own statements, the comedian duo has the largest collection of chewing gum in the world. According to “Spiegel” calculations, the collection of around 20,000 stripes is now worth a good 10,000 euros. Because of their passion for collecting, they were often laughed at, Thomas Martins told “Spiegel”. Now we will probably have to install burglar-proof doors.