The Opal Nugget Ice Maker makes thin ice spheres, but for $500, the inventors at GE Appliances First Build in Louisville had no idea the little machine would become such a big seller.
“It blew us out of the water," said Mike Starmer with GE Appliances First Build. "It's crazy, because we are 100 percent over what we thought we would sell.”
In just a short time on the market, Opal is already marked as a best seller on Amazon. For a link to Amazon, click here.
“We knew there was a passionate community for ice,” Starmer said. “I love ice, so I am all a part of that community. But the community is a lot bigger than what I think we expected.”
Six times the normal weekly volume sold the week of Black Friday, and 10 times the normal daily rate sold on Cyber Monday. The Opal is sold out for the next three weeks, and the team is taking back orders.
“Scotsman has a unit they sell for about $3,000,” Starmer said. “We thought if we could sell a couple hundred a month, we would be really happy, and we are selling well above that.”
The machine is growing in popularity with help from reviews from the Wall Street Journal and even celebrities like Sheryl Crow.
The team over at GE Appliance's First Build said it isn't done. It’s working on making snow cone ice, and one day we might even see it inside a refrigerator.
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