Could the Mobile Shop Be Ready for a Comeback?

There was a time when the shop came to you.

Mobile grocers, butchers, fishmongers and other travelling shops were once a familiar sight in British towns and villages. 

There were mobile fish and chip vans, delicatessens, bread vans and even shops selling household necessities including paraffin for heaters. 

Then shopping habits changed.

Supermarkets offered enormous ranges under one roof, car ownership increased and weekly supermarket shopping became normal. Later, out-of-town retail parks and online shopping put even more pressure on traditional doorstep traders.

But could the mobile shop now be ready for a comeback?

Working from home changes the equation

One important difference is the number of people who now spend at least part of their working week at home.

A mobile delicatessen arriving in a residential area at lunchtime could suddenly have dozens of potential customers who simply wouldn't have been there during the traditional working day a couple of decades ago.

Imagine a mobile bakery offering freshly baked bread, cakes and pastries pulling up at 11am. Or a travelling delicatessen selling cheeses, cooked meats, olives and locally produced foods.

Rather than driving to the supermarket, you walk 100 yards down the road.

Technology solves an old problem

Modern technology could make the business model considerably easier.

A mobile shop could announce its location and arrival time through Facebook, WhatsApp or its own app. Customers might even pre-order their groceries before the van arrives.

Contactless card readers mean traders no longer need to operate predominantly with cash, while relatively inexpensive mobile technology can handle stock control, accounting and customer loyalty schemes.

Essentially, today's mobile shop could combine an old-fashioned personal service with 21st-century technology.

Rural communities could benefit

There could be an especially important role for mobile shops in villages which have lost their local stores.

A travelling grocer carrying vegetables, milk, bread, eggs, meat and everyday essentials could provide a valuable service, particularly for older residents and people without cars.

Several specialist traders could even work together, creating a miniature travelling market visiting different communities on particular days.

Food trucks have already proved part of the idea

In some respects, mobile food retail never completely disappeared.

Ice-cream vans survived, while food trucks have become enormously popular. Farmers' markets, street-food events and pop-up businesses have also demonstrated that consumers don't necessarily require a conventional shop.

So why shouldn't the same principle work for groceries?

Picture a refrigerated mobile fishmonger visiting on Thursday, a baker on Friday morning and a cheesemonger or delicatessen on Saturday.

There might even be room for the return of the mobile fish and chip shop.

There are obstacles

It wouldn't necessarily be easy.

Fuel, vehicle purchase and maintenance, refrigeration, food hygiene requirements, licences and insurance all cost money. Finding enough customers along a route to make each stop worthwhile would be essential.

But today's trader has one enormous advantage over their predecessors: they can know who's buying before they arrive.

Pre-orders could dramatically reduce waste and allow a mobile butcher, baker, greengrocer or deli to carry exactly what customers have requested alongside stock for passing trade.

Perhaps the future looks surprisingly familiar

Retail constantly reinvents itself, but occasionally the best new idea turns out to be an old one.

At That’s Food and Drink, we'd love to see independent mobile shops appearing in our streets again – particularly if they provide opportunities for small producers and give communities another alternative to the supermarket.

Perhaps one day we'll once again hear a familiar horn outside and someone shout:

"The grocer's here!"

Would you buy from a mobile grocer, baker, butcher, fishmonger or delicatessen if one visited your street every week? And if you remember the old mobile shops, we'd love to hear what used to call in your neighbourhood.

Incidentally based not far from where we live there's a mobile bookshop!