Sweden's World Cup team shops at Plano Scandinavian store

Sweden’s World Cup preparations reached a small shop in historic downtown Plano, where the national team placed an order with Wooden Spoon to bring a taste of home to North Texas.

The Scandinavian store, at 1617 K Ave., sits inside the Joseph Forman Home, one of the oldest houses remaining in Plano, built in 1867. It sells imported and domestic foods and gifts from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, including lingonberry products, caviar in a tube and falukorv, the kind of specialty items that can be hard to find outside a Nordic community.

That mix of history and niche retail is part of what makes the store stand out as Sweden’s team settles in Frisco for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The team’s order from Wooden Spoon is more than a novelty purchase. It shows how a global event can push spending into a small local business, especially one that already serves a distinct cultural need and can meet it fast.

Ann Marie Gustavsson, who grew up in Sweden before moving to North Texas years ago, spoke about the store’s goods and the team’s interest in shopping there. Her presence gives the story a local throughline: a longtime immigrant business tied to a neighborhood storefront is now helping visiting athletes feel at home thousands of miles away.

The timing also matters for Collin County and the broader Dallas area. FIFA lists Japan vs. Sweden at Dallas Stadium on June 25, 2026, and the Dallas World Cup organizing site places that match in Arlington with a 6:00 p.m. CT kickoff. FOX Sports’ schedule shows Sweden opening against Tunisia in Monterrey on June 14, then facing the Netherlands in Houston on June 20 before coming to Dallas on June 25.

For Plano, the attention extends beyond one team order. Gwen Welk Workman started Wooden Spoon in 1988, and Plano City Lifestyle says the business has been open for more than 37 years. Dallasites101 has noted that the shop has even hosted Viking weddings, underscoring how deeply it has become a Scandinavian cultural hub in Historic Downtown Plano.

As Sweden moves through its World Cup schedule, Wooden Spoon is getting a rare kind of visibility that few small retailers ever see. A storefront in the oldest house in Plano is now part of the support network for one of soccer’s biggest stages, a reminder that international tournaments often leave their clearest mark in very local places.