The ceremonial opening of the grocery store in Šalgočka, Trnava Region, which is now operating in hybrid mode. (source: Courtesy of Šalgočka )
Coop Jednota, a large Slovak retail chain, has introduced a new concept of shopping: fully automated shops that allow customers to visit and buy around the clock, and on any day of the week.
A first such grocery shop, with a full assortment of goods, was opened in the village of Šalgočka, Trnava Region, in May. Jednota plans to open more such stores in other locations in the summer.
“Šalgočka has only 460 inhabitants, yet we and our partners seem to have found a way to make the grocery’s operation sustainable in the long term,” said Helena Mesárošová, the mayor of Šalgočka.
There used to be a grocery store in the town, but the retail chain closed it after more than 40 years of operation, citing both economic reasons and problems finding staff. In 2023, at the initiative of Šalgočka's mayor, Jednota started to look for a new way of operating there.
The new shop is staffed from 6:00 to 12:00 during workdays, and on Saturdays from 6:00 to 11:00. During the remaining hours it operates in self-service mode, with customers going in and out with the help of their loyalty card. Payment for their purchases can only be made with a bank card, via a payment terminal.
In the future the company wants to use its own app, Coop Jednota Klub, for the whole process.
Inspiration from abroad
The inspiration for the new store concept is the Czech chain of Coop stores, which currently operates nearly 40 automated stores in the Czech Republic.
The main difference there is the existence of a “Bank Identity”, established by the Czech Banking Association. This is a legislatively recognised way of verifying a citizen’s identity through a mobile banking application. Its advantage is that the customer - if a citizen of the Czech Republic - does not have to register anywhere.
“There is no such service in Slovakia, so our customer has to register first,” Michal Švrček, director of the IT and services section at Coop Jednota Slovakia, said.
The retail chain plans to launch automated groceries in various regions of Slovakia and in various sizes. They will all operate in the hybrid way.
These self-service groceries may be a solution for so-called food deserts, i.e. low-population areas in which nobody wants to run a grocery store, arguing that it would be a loss-making business. There are plenty of small villages across Slovakia without groceries whose citizens have to travel to neighbouring municipalities to buy even basic foodstuffs.
The shop Od Našich (From Ours) in Devín, a borough of Bratislava, has been operating for some time in a mode similar to that at Šalgočka. Millionaire Patrik Takáč, who lives in an extensive villa in the borough, opened it in 2021 after none of the main retail chains wanted to run a grocery in Devín due to economic reasons.
