We’ve all had one of those nights.
You were stuck late at the office and you stopped at the grocery store to pick up some last minute items, only to be disappointed when you discover that it’s closed.
One Swedish father was particularly tired of dealing with frustrating grocery hours and came up with a solution to make store hours a thing of the past.
Robert Ilijason lives in the small town of Viken, on Sweden’s south east coast. With only 4,200 residents, very few stores are open late. His patience was at an all time low one evening when he was in desperate need of food for his baby and he discovered that nothing was open.
This sparked an idea that could change the future of grocery stores.
Ilijason opened Naraffar, Sweden’s first around-the-clock (24/7/365), unstaffed convenience store.
There’s no cashier or staff needed. All that’s required is an app, which will link to a user’s bank ID and act as the key to the store.
“So once you’ve opened the door, the app automatically turns into scan mode and you can buy whatever you want to buy,” Ilijason explained. Users will then receive an invoice at the end of the month.
Ilijason made sure that the concept was safe and took a number of cautionary security measures. The store is member-based, and a credit check must be completed before members can enter the store. Upon arriving, shoppers only have eight seconds to enter and there are security cameras throughout the shop to discourage shoplifting.
The store currently stocks dairy products as well as frozen and dried foods; but the idea is that demand will eventually decide what will being stocked and Ilijason hopes he’ll soon be able to work with local producers.
The fact no one has thought of this concept yet seems pretty amazing. Who knows if something like this could ever work in Canada, but it sure would be better than seeing creepy robots take over grocery stores in a future near you…
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