‘I can shop whenever I want’
Open around the clock, almost without staff: how a self-service shop makes village life more relaxed.
By Lara Lorenz (text), Polina Schneider (photos)
A supermarket in the middle of the village, open around the clock. What many villagers dream of is now becoming reality in some places, thanks to the start-up myEnso. Sellstedt, too, can now enjoy its own ‘Tante Enso’. ‘I can shop whenever I want, and I don’t get so stressed any more when I notice something’s missing,’ says a delighted Dana Tiencken (39) from Sellstedt. The supermarket offers the community a new place to shop that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The shelves hold an average of 3,500 everyday items. If customers are still missing something, they can order their big weekly shop online and have it delivered to the shop. They can also note down requests for the range on a board in the shop.
On weekdays the shop is staffed for about four to five hours. If residents want to shop outside these hours, they can do so with an Enso customer card, which anyone who wants to become a customer can apply for free of charge. With the card, they can open the shop door at any time, do their shopping and then pay. In Sellstedt, though, the shop has become not just a new place to shop but much more a meeting place where people get together and chat. The supermarket also means a slice of quality of life, because for many – especially older residents – the modern corner shop finally offers the chance to do their own shopping again. That includes 78-year-old Lutz Taddiken, who has lived in Sellstedt for more than 20 years: ‘Before the shop existed, my wife and I did our shopping on the way into town. Now we usually don’t have to make an extra trip if something’s missing, and we can do our everyday shopping in the village again.’
The supermarket has strengthened the villagers’ sense of community – even before it opened. For a Tante Enso shop to be set up, the community has to go through an application process. It must have at least 1,000 inhabitants, and there must be no other shop within five kilometres. Once these conditions are met, the residents come into play: within four weeks, 300 people have to be found who each buy a €100 share in the cooperative. That secures the financing and has the advantage that every customer who buys a share is also a co-owner of their local Tante Enso branch, and so can support and strengthen it. Tante Enso is therefore much more than just a new place to shop. It is a genuine community project that strengthens people’s ties to the village and to one another.
With the supermarket’s customer card, the shop can be entered 24/7.
Alongside established brands, the shop also supports local products and includes them in its range.
Time for a chat. Part of the concept is that people meet and talk while shopping.
Almost alone in the landscape: where a Tante Enso shop opens, there is no other place to shop within five kilometres.
