Origin of the project / activity (country, town, etc.):  Cécile Brunet, daughter and grand-daughter of farmers, has quit her job as a secretary when she was 32 years old. She now works on her father’s farm at Guerville, manages the village’s grocery store and organises a weekly round through the surrounding villages. She exclusively sources her goods from local producers. The multiple stops help fight the disappearance of grocery stores in rural areas and strengthen social links.

Please try to define max. three catchwords that describe your project / activity: developing a quality proximity offer, accessible to everyone; strengthen social links in a village.

Specific target group? For whom is the project / activity designed: especially the elderly, who are isolated and cannot use a vehicle to buy their own supplies.

What is the project about? Short but precise description of the local project / activity: Numerous inhabitants of rural areas expect a new source of income, they also hope to fight the isolation of certain villages, whose inhabitants seldom have access to supermarkets or even to simple convenience stores. The final goal of this type of initiative is to put the grocery store back in its rightful place, at the centre of social life in rural areas.

Is there anything that needs to be considered if the project / activity is to be copied to another rural area (good practice experience, things that went wrong, etc.):

  • In contrast to a traditional grocery store, no rent or key money needs to be paid. On the other hand, a truck equipped for use as a grocery store is expensive, costing between 50.000€ and 60.000€. The price range for certain used vehicles starts at about 20.000€. Most of the time, funding for such a vehicle is secured through a bank loan. For this type of project however, banks often require of the borrower a higher personal contribution (50% instead of the usual 30%).
  • Use of a certain site as a truck stop has to be approved by the local communities, which is not always easy to achieve.
  • Funding often needs to be obtained through multiple sources, for example organisations or crowdfunding.
  • Regulation constraints must not be underestimated: hygiene and safety rules must be obeyed, the project has to be declared at the city hall and the prefecture, and an itinerant trade card must be obtained.