The tinned fish trend drops anchor in Times Square

Tinned fish like sardines and smoked mussels, as Retail Brew reported recently, has gone from being something relegated to your grandparents’ pantry to an exploding trend with Gen Z consumers, thanks to viral videos extolling the products on TikTok.

• Videos tagged #tinnedfish have been viewed 82.7 million times, as of August 30.
• Sales of canned seafood in the US grew nearly 10% last year, to $2.7 billion, according to Euromonitor International data cited by the Wall Street Journal.

While tinned fish might be enjoying a resurgence on these shores, the fervor has been a constant in southern Europe, particularly Spain and Portugal, where it’s known as conservas.

So it’s fitting that it’s a Portuguese brand that just made the most big-fish retail-store statement you can make in the US: opening a store in Times Square.

The Fantastic World of the Portuguese Sardine, the retail arm of Comur, a canner in Portugal, has more than 20 stores across the pond, but this marks its first in the US. It signed a 10-year lease for its location at 2 Times Square, according to the Commercial Observer.

A tin of sardines can be had for as little as 98 cents at Walmart, but the Fantastic World of the Portuguese Sardine is going decidedly upmarket. Most of the cans in the colorful and lively shop cost $15 for a four-ounce tin, while an ultra-premium offering, in cans shaped like gold ingots and with gold flakes speckling the sardines inside, costs $44 for a smaller 3-ounce tin.

“We usually recommend this for a special occasion,” Joana Quaresma, a Fantastic World project manager, told the New York Post about the gilded offering. “This is not for everyday, obviously this is very good for a gift, but you want to show some dedication and that you want people to have a special moment with this.”