Jedermann offered to everyman at the supermarket

Austrian supermarket chain Merkur scored a coup for customers after getting hold of hundreds of tickets for the enormously popular Jedermann at the Salzburger Festspiele this year.

The tickets are regarded as one of the hottest cultural properties in the annual events calendar in Austria and are usually sold out almost immediately.

So many Austrians were surprised to find the tickets on sale at their local supermarket.

A Salzburg Festival spokesperson said that the supermarket had become a sponsor of the event and as a result was entitled to tickets – and was allowed to do with the tickets what they wanted.

Merkur is regarded as one of Austria’s more upmarket supermarkets and increasingly is turning to cultural offers for customers which currently include discount price tickets to the Museumsquartier, ithe Kunsthaus Wien and the Schloss Schallaburg.

Each year only about 5% of the tickets for the Salzburg Festival are passed onto resellers not just in Salzburg but all over the world.

In Salzburg the tickets for the sell-out performance are usually sold in combination with tickets for less popular performances.