Frustration with opening hours and the lack of frequency in communities that previously lacked local suppliers have led Unimarkt boss Andreas Haider to rethink the mini-market concept. Three container locations have already been dismantled, reducing the UNIBox concept to 14 locations.
Apart from supplying the branch, no employees are needed, because the customer scans the products and pays for the purchase himself – this is the highly abbreviated UNIBox concept, with which Unimarkt from Traun went on the offensive. The goal: The grocer wanted to close the gap in communities where there were no local suppliers.
But now boss Andreas Haider is stepping on the brakes and has even had containers converted into supermarkets dismantled at three locations – in Dorf an der Pram, Pötting and Hengsberg/Styria. “In communities that no longer have local suppliers, there is not enough frequency,” says Haider, who is now focusing on new UNIBox locations at gas stations and train stations, which have another advantage: the minimarkets are open around the clock. .
Support from the Upper Austrian Chamber of Commerce was not enough
This is different with insulated containers. Their hours of operation are limited to 72 hours per week. Although Haider had convinced the Upper Austrian Chamber of Commerce to support the revision of the existing opening hours for the food trade, neither the state of Upper Austria nor the Austrian Chamber of Commerce feel responsible.
“You just run into the wall – so what am I waiting for?”, says Haider, who also rejected the container offensive for that reason.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
