Shops Return To Rural Sweden But Are Now Staff-Free

An anonymous reader shares a report: Dark clouds loom over the pine forest surrounding Hummelsta, a town of 1,000 people that hasn't had any local shops for a decade. Since December, a red wooden container, about the size of a mobile home, has offered a lifeline. It's a mini supermarket that locals can access round-the-clock. "We haven't had any shops here during the time we have been here, and getting this now is perfect," says 31-year-old Emma Lundqvist who moved to Hummelsta with her boyfriend three years ago. "You don't need to get into the city to buy this small stuff," she adds, pointing to the packet of bacon she's popped in for. There's a wide assortment of groceries available, from fresh fruit and vegetables to Swedish household staples like frozen meatballs, crisp breads and wafer bars. But there are no staff or checkouts here. You open the doors using the company's app, which works in conjunction with BankID, a secure national identification app operated by Sweden's banks. Then, you can scan barcodes using your smartphone and the bill is automatically charged to a pre-registered bank card. The store is part of the Lifvs chain, a Stockholm-based start-up that launched in 2018 with the goal of returning stores to remote rural locations where shops had closed down because they'd struggled to stay profitable. In Asia several companies including Alibaba are testing unstaffed stores in more urban locations. Amazon has also opened supermarkets in US cities and this month in the UK, which use sensors and cameras to work out what you've bought, so there's not even the need for self-scanning. But Lifvs co-founder Daniel Lundh saw the opportunity in rural locations: "There were food deserts where people had to travel to the next town or city to pick up their groceries and so we definitely saw that there was a need." Alongside skipping the need to pay cashiers, the firm also avoids pricey long-term rental leases. And if there's less footfall than expected in one location, the wooden containers can easily be picked up and tested elsewhere.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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