Smart stores in rural areas: how digital store concepts are improving local supply

For small grocery stores in sparsely populated regions, running a profitable operation is often difficult: low demand meets comparatively high fixed costs. As a result, rural areas can end up with supply gaps, short opening hours, and long travel distances to the nearest store.

This is exactly the gap that so-called smart stores have been filling for several years now. They can operate fully unmanned or in a hybrid mode, often allow for extended opening hours, and rely on digital access, payment, and self-service solutions. Such formats are increasingly establishing themselves as a category of their own, somewhere between a farm shop and a supermarket.

Local supply in rural areas is a challenge, driven by declining customer numbers and high fixed costs. Grocery retail already operates on traditionally thin margins, which means that classic supermarkets or village stores in sparsely populated regions can barely be run profitably anymore.

In Saxony-Anhalt, for instance, numerous traditional village stores have had to close in recent years. A study by the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University recently counted 13 so-called smart stores in the state – stores that operate without staff, stay open around the clock, and accept only cashless payment. The university expects that such stores will increasingly take over the role of classic supermarkets in rural areas and help close supply gaps.

The need for action on rural supply is not a purely German phenomenon: factors such as demographic change, urbanization, declining purchasing power in sparsely populated regions, and rising operating costs can put pressure on brick-and-mortar retail across wide areas. Examples from Norway and Switzerland show that retailers in other European markets are also experimenting with automated and hybrid formats.

Many automated store concepts focus on high-traffic locations in cities or at transportation hubs such as airports or train stations, where high customer numbers allow these formats to pay off especially quickly. Increasingly, though, it turns out that the same technology also works in the opposite scenario: low foot traffic and sparse population in rural areas.

A central element of many smart store concepts is continuous or extended opening hours. In summer 2025, for instance, German EDEKA retailer David Ott opened an autonomous smart store on the beach promenade of Wassersleben, on the Baltic Sea right on the Danish border, spanning around 150 square meters and stocking more than 2,500 items. The store is open from 7:00 a.m. to 9:45 p.m. and – with shortened hours – is also accessible on Sundays. Access is digital, via debit or credit card, and customers pay at one of two self-scan checkouts. Alongside everyday staples, the store deliberately stocks regional and Danish specialties, appealing not only to local customers but also to tourists.

The potential of small-scale 24/7 formats is also evident further from the coast: in a village in southwestern Germany near the French border, EDEKA retailer Benedikt Paul brought local retail supply back to the town with a store of just 144 square meters – shopping via card access and self-checkout, even outside staffed hours. For this effort, he received the EDEKA association's Gen-E Award in 2025.

Covering off-peak hours – often the night hours in cities – is also an issue in rural areas given the shortage of skilled workers and rising personnel costs. This is precisely where hybrid formats come in: conventional, staffed operation during main opening hours, and an automated self-service mode during off-hours.

SPAR Norway has implemented this principle at seven locations, including the most recently opened branches in Prestfoss and Sæbøvik. Outside staffed hours, customers identify themselves with a bank card at the entrance, pay at the self-checkout, and scan their receipt on the way out. A video link to a permanently staffed control center is available if needed. Ole Christian Fjeldheim, chain director at SPAR Norway, sees the model as an important building block for securing branch operations in rural areas over the long term, since it combines local presence with modern technology.

Switzerland's Migros is pursuing a similar path: in July 2026, the first regular Migros branch with 24-hour operation opened in Herisau, a town of around 16,000 people in northeastern Switzerland. The roughly 300-square-meter store, stocking nearly 7,000 items, is staffed until 7 p.m., after which it automatically switches to self-service mode. Customers gain access via a smartphone code and pay at self-checkout terminals. Cameras and sensors monitor the store during unstaffed hours and are designed to automatically trigger an alarm in the event of a medical emergency, for example. Technically, the format builds on the unstaffed Migros Teo micro-stores, which have been in operation since 2022. According to the company, plans are already underway for additional locations using this concept in the region.

Financing is one of the biggest hurdles for new village stores. In Germany, a number of cooperative- and subscription-based models have become established.

One example of how the cooperative model and the subscription concept come together is the North German company Tante Enso, which operates its locations as hybrid mini-supermarkets. With 94 stores nationwide by now, the company has a presence in nearly every German state. Growth is financed through a cooperative equity model: customers purchase shares and thereby become members, receiving an annual payout of 5 percent. The more shares held, the greater the benefits: alongside an annual shopping credit per share, cashback on every purchase rises incrementally as well, supplemented by volume discounts on share purchases. Through the general assembly, members also have a genuine say in future terms and conditions. The model thus combines classic cooperative co-determination with the incentive mechanisms of a modern loyalty program – turning investors into loyal, local regular customers.

The East German startup Unser Schopp operates container stores in rural areas. One location is already up and running, with many further sites planned. The 24/7 store is also financed together with the village community. Through a village-store subscription starting at 20 euros per week, households secure shopping credit while simultaneously providing proof of genuine demand for banks and investors. Interested parties can also participate through a profit-participating loan – a form of citizen investment – earning a base interest rate plus a share of the location's profits. This is supplemented by investment opportunities at both the site and company level, for example via the platform tokenize.it.

Both concepts deliberately promote regional producers and suppliers in their product ranges, helping to strengthen the local economy in turn.

Securing local supply in rural areas is a political and social task, since access to goods and quality of life should be guaranteed outside cities as well. This includes not only retail, but also access to cash, medical services, and public transportation.

In smaller communities, retail has traditionally also served a social function as a gathering place. To what extent can automated stores and hybrid formats live up to that role?

A look at practice shows that automation and social involvement are not necessarily mutually exclusive – though providers place the emphasis in different places. At Tante Enso, participation is structurally anchored through the cooperative form of organization: as a member, each person gets one vote at the annual general assembly, can submit wishes for the product range and services through a "wish list" format, and is actively involved in the design of new stores. On top of that, there is a quarterly sponsorship program: if a store reaches its sales target, up to 400 euros flow into a village project, which residents themselves choose through a survey – anything from a cargo bike to new jerseys for the local soccer club. The name Enso, Japanese for "circle," and the logo are meant to symbolize precisely this principle of community.

Unser Schopp also relies on co-creation, albeit on a smaller scale: through a citizens' advisory board, residents can help shape their village store, both in terms of the product range and ideas for shared events. Depending on the location, the village stores can also be complemented with seating or a covered outdoor seating area. This turns the container into a place where shopping and lingering come together.

The strategy behind both providers is the same: getting socially involved locally strengthens loyalty to the brand.