SNAX, a new downtown storefront that sells exotic snacks, hosted its grand opening ceremony on April 7. 

SNAX’s products range from gummy Skittles and peach-flavored Kit Kats to calamari squid-flavored potato chips and Japanese soda.

Graham Barney, the owner, said that his appreciation of variety led him to start-up his own business. “I came into one of these shops and I was completely astonished by the selection of name-brand snacks that we get here in America, but the variations of flavors that other countries have access to blew me away,” he said.

There are rare snack shops in Destiny U.S.A. and other college towns, which Barney’s friends always enjoyed products from. “[They] were really excited whenever I brought over a bag of chips or some cookies that came from out of town,” Barney said. “They asked me where they could get it, how they could get more of it and I just saw a demand for it.”

Most of the products in the store are from foreign countries, like Japan, while few come from Upstate New York. Barney has to order cases of these niche snacks from companies overseas, which he says can be difficult. “These products are sent overseas on pallets and broken down from companies. And even though these products are now available in the states, there is an exclusive factor behind it because a lot of these go quickly or there’s a shortage of certain amounts,” he said.

Due to the limited availability of Barney’s products, he could go weeks without specific orders. “Even if I have [a product] in my store for a week, I may not have it for a couple because of the demand for it,” he said. 

SNAX sold out of products on opening day. Over 300 people showed up to experience the new downtown rarity.

Barney hopes to not only own and operate a storefront, but to also get further engaged with the community. “Once I get my feet underneath here, I’m trying to bounce around and do more events and set up a booth,” he said, “Hopefully I could set up at Harborfest in a couple years, or some local music festivals. Maybe one day I will be able to sponsor a race car at the speedway.” Imagining a foreign snack-styled race car will not sound impossible after meeting Barney. 

Barney’s personal favorite snack is Twix Pods. “The consistency of it is so good. It’s salty, sweet, a little bit of savory in it to where it’s hard not to eat a whole bag of them. The fact that they’re from Australia, too, makes me happy,” he said.

The entrepreneur is generous in his hope to not only get the word out for his own business, but for other locally-owned businesses, as well. “I would like to get more publicity for other businesses as well as my own,” he said.

Barney feels that he has finally found a place which caters to his life aspirations. “I was bouncing around job to job and never really found something that I could settle with or that I was happy with,” he said, “I figured I’ll take a shot at this and see how it goes, and it’s been going great so far.”

SNAX is located at It is located at 167 W. First St. in Oswego and is open Tue through Thu from 12-8 p.m. and Fri through Sat from 12 -10 p.m.

Photo from snax_enterprises via Instagram