It’s almost impossible to walk through the Bullring’s top level without noticing the huge queue of people outside the latest store to open. Cinnabon, the American bakery chain, opened its latest UK store in Birmingham last Friday, and since, the wave of customers flocking to the kiosk for their sugary fix has appeared to be non-stop.
Cinnabon is renowned for its topped pastry rolls, offering popular flavours like Oreo and Lotus Biscoff as well as regular iced cinnamon rolls and small, bite-sized rolls. The store also offers an expansive drinks menu which features coffees as well as iced drinks in flavours like caramel latte, strawberry, mango, chocolate mocha and cinnamon
Three days on from the kiosk’s opening, I stopped by to take a closer look at the buzz of people. Amongst the bubble, content creators posed, instagrammers snapped pictures and most had a smile on their face.
“We had a queue on Friday that stood for one and a half hours,” said store manager, Shifa Zuhair. “And there were no complaints. They were just happy to stay and get fully frosted,” she added.
Zuhair said she hasn’t yet receieved any negative complaints from customers, only positive reviews and stories of how people have long awaited a Cinnabon in Birmingham. She added that many have told her they have travelled distances to get their hands on a few rolls.
“Some have travelled two and half hours just to have this,” she said.
Though Friday was the store’s opening day, Zuhair said that Saturday has been their busiest. But despite the constant bustle she insists her 12-person team isn’t fazed by the overwhelming number of customers.
“It’s a really good turnaround,” she said. “You see a lot of happy customers which is amazing.”