Austria's local supply in danger: Community Association demands new opening times!

Austria's local supply in danger: Community Association demands new opening times!

Laimgrubengasse 10, 1060 Wien, Österreich - The discussion about adapting opening hours in the food trade is now a new level. Johannes Pressl, President of the Community Association, calls for a comprehensive revision of the existing rules in order to strengthen local supply in rural areas. This is followed by a proposal by Marcel Haraszti, board member of Rewe, who brought into play an expansion of the statutory opening times. Under the current conditions, only digitally organized shops that offer purely agricultural products can open around the clock. "This option should also be made possible for commercial providers," emphasizes Pressl, in order to improve the situation in almost 580 municipalities without its own local supplier, such as regiodata research reported.

The existing opening times prevent innovative solutions in the food trade, which are made possible by digitization. "Personnel -free shops with digital health insurers could offer economic perspectives for regions in which conventional supermarkets no longer pay off," explains Pressl. An example of the current problem is the closure of unimarkt unioboxes, which were discontinued due to the unprofitable legal framework. The creation of longer opening times for self -service markets could increase the attractiveness of those business and thus boost the local economy. The goal is to change the legal framework in such a way that a 24/7 operating time for self-service transactions is possible.

innovative approaches to local supply

Pressl speaks for a pilot test in which various commercial self -service solutions are to be tested under realistic conditions. This test phase is intended to serve as the basis for the future development of the legal regulations and at the same time provide data on revenue shifts and customer acceptance. The entire project aims to revitalize the rural communities and at the same time act as a central point of contact. A vision that could initiate a new era of local supply in rural areas - and awaited many communities.