A new shop is letting people do their shopping 24 hours a day – and with no cashiers or floor staff.
Shoppers get into the store – in Viken, southern Sweden – using a mobile app and once inside, they simply choose what they want, scan it and get charged via a monthly invoice.
The store is the brainchild of Robert Ilijason after a disastrous episode left him home alone with his hungry son having dropped the last jar of baby food on the floor, reports Mashable.
He had to drive around for nearly half an hour to find a supermarket that was open and so decided to open his own convenience shop.
He said:
My ambition is to spread this idea to other villages and small towns. It’s incredible that no one has thought of this before.
The shop stocks basics like milk, bread, sugar, tinned food, nappies and other stuff you would expect to find in a small convenience store but no tobacco, medical drugs or alcohol due to the risk of theft and also Swedish retail laws.
Robert receives deliveries at the shop and stacks products on the shelves – the customers do the rest themselves.
He has installed six surveillance cameras to discourage shoplifters and he is alerted by text message if the front door stays open for longer than eight seconds or if someone tries to break it open.
“I live nearby and can always run down here with a crowbar,” he joked, but said it hadn’t been necessary since the store opened in January.
Most customers seem to love the new store just as much as its creator – in fact a friend of Robert’s said he can now do his shopping in under a minute.
Sounds like an epic idea to me…
