Ice was in demand. People who weren’t in the business of selling ice also started selling them. They brought ice from the place where they could find snow and then they sold it in the market. Due to industrialization, more people were getting rich and they wanted to live a royal life and just like King James I who had ice houses in his names these newly rich people wanted to have at least one in their name. So, basically ice houses became a status symbol. If you had one of the ice houses, you were considered rich.