Gerlach enters the Lifvs unmanned supermarket store in Veckholm, a village of a few hundred people, about 80 kilometres from Stockholm, near the city of Enkoping. One after another, grocery stores are shutting down in rural Sweden, leaving villagers to log miles to buy food. But a new type of shop has sprung up in their wake: unmanned supermarkets in mobile containers. — AFP
Enköping, SWEDEN: One after another, grocery stores are shutting down in rural Sweden, leaving villagers to travel miles to buy food. But a new type of shop has sprung up in their wake: unmanned supermarkets in mobile containers.
In Veckholm, a village of a few hundred people 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Stockholm, the last grocery store closed more than a decade ago. Then, a year-and-a-half ago, even the little convenience store at the only petrol station locked its doors.
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Gerlach enters the Lifvs unmanned supermarket store in Veckholm, a village of a few hundred people, about 80 kilometres from Stockholm, near the city of Enkoping. One after another, grocery stores are shutting down in rural Sweden, leaving villagers to log miles to buy food. But a new type of shop has sprung up in their wake: unmanned supermarkets in mobile containers. — AFP
Gerlach works in the Lifvs unmanned supermarket store in Veckholm, about 80 kilometres from Stockholm. — AFP
Gerlach, who manages the Veckholm store, only comes by once a week to receive deliveries. — AFP
Ray the beekeeper enters the Lifvs unmanned supermarket store in Veckholm. — AFP
One of the Lifvs unmanned supermarket stores in Veckholm. — AFP
Shoppers unlock the supermarket’s door with an app on their smartphone. — AFP
The unmanned shops – plopped down in the middle of nowhere – also play a role as a “meeting place” for locals. — AFP
Because of Covid-19, only one person at a time is allowed inside the Veckholm store. — AFP
A security camera in the Lifvs unmanned supermarket store in Veckholm. — AFP
Edman says the store is ‘a little bit more expensive but it’s fine’, adding that it’s a price he was willing to pay to not go to another store. — AFP
Gerlach works in the Lifvs unmanned supermarket store in Veckholm. She also manages three other shops, all of them mobile containers. — AFP
Gerlach in front of the Lifvs store in Veckholm. Lifvs, like its Swedish rivals AutoMat and 24Food which have also popped up in rural areas, benefits from a very wired population. — AFP
The mayor of Enkoping, the municipality to which Veckholm belongs, has only good things to say about the three container stores that have opened in his patch. — AFP
Guilia Ray, a beekeeper, is seen restocking the shop's shelves with her honey in the Lifvs unmanned supermarket store in Veckholm. — AFP
A man exits the Lifvs unmanned supermarket store in Veckholm, about 80 kilometres from Stockholm, near the city of Enkoping. — AFP
