ENKOPING, 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 kilometers (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.
Villagers were left with no choice but to travel a half-hour by car to the closest supermarket.
But in July 2020, an automated, unmanned grocery store came to town.
In a container dropped in th…
Keep on reading: Unmanned supermarkets to the rescue in Sweden’s rural areas