The smallest shop in the world has received international attention

The vending machine is inside the green house that Kiddi …

The vending machine is inside the green house that Kiddi built and the whole operation is run on green energy. Photo/Sent to mbl.is

It’s been 22 years now since Kristinn Kristmundsson, nicknamed “Kiddi Vídeofly,” set up a coke vending machine on the road from Egilsstaðir to Borgarfjörður in East Iceland.

Now there is a more recent soda and candy vending machine, which tourists and other visitors can use when visiting the area.

The fact that the vending machine, stored in a small house, is located off the beaten track almost in the wilderness, close to Hrolllaugsstadir, and powered solely by wind and solar power, is of great interest to many. “It is naturally green-painted because it gets nothing but green energy,” Kiddi says to mbl.is.

He says the business has been doing quite well over the years, but insists that the purpose of the vending machine is not to make money from this.

“This is not a profit company at all! I’m a retired pensioner, at 69, and to me it’s more about entertainment and having fun,” says Kiddi, “and it’s clear that he has put his heart and soul into the project.

Sodas, candy and … tattoos!

Kiddi’s shop contains the soda and candy vending machine, a guest book and a hand-held tattoo vending machine, which is very popular.

“It’s nice to tell that people buy a whole whole lot of tattoos to decorate themselves,” says Kristinn, joyfully.

Next thing to do is to install a credit card machine

Kiddi reports that the next step is to install a POS credit card machine in the vending machine, but says he does not know when it will be up.

“The vending machine is sustainable as it is, I don’t lose money on it, but if I had a credit card machine, I would have lost on it – because they are so expensive. But myPos, they’re positive out there, and they are going to help me come up with a credit card machine because it’s one of the smallest shops in the world and also here up on the heath in the wilderness.”

Just getting started

Kiddi’s vending machine has now appeared on foreign television, including two German TV shows.

“It happened only yesterday that a German couple came to me, greeted me by name and said they’d seen it on German TV. Yes, yes, I’m known all over Germany,” says Kiddi and laughs, adding: “We’re only just getting started.”

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