Thinking about shopping experiences; I was in Sweden again last week. I visited a couple of notable shops providing a very different experience, one a local farm shop in the Skorne countryside near Malmo. We were taking the toddlers in a Cargo bike, very common here in Scandinavia and in Holland- electric of course, to navigate hills. They are heavy enough without children and their safety seats!
We stopped by a local farm shop where the manager, known to my family came down with apples for all the children, a 3-year-old and 10-month-old twins, who were determined to have a good go at the delicious red, shiny and crisp apples. It was very interesting to see how this positive experience brings people out to want to buy things and build relationship with the staff. It has become a real destination experience which was colourful and quirky, just the perfect trip out for 3 little excited children - providing fresh air, healthy food and lots of engagement with the manager who clearly loved babies!
The farm shop was full of colour and creativity. It was a bursting forth of vibrant colour and textures. A multi-sensory experience and feast for the eyes. My mother always told me ‘You eat with your eyes’ .
The second experience was quite a contrast- into the world of the prosaic and mundane world of shopping for essentials - the supermarket. I find supermarkets difficult to navigate, too much choice and too much changing round of products on shelves. the only merit was the lack of people, access to easy to use technology for those wanting to be self-sufficient and pay as you go. All ages were doing this. Very few staff around to help. Everything is on line and cash is hardly seen anywhere. People in Sweden don’t pay in cash! It is all card purchases. It takes a long time to change the habits of a population and we must not forget that their population is only the same size as London. And they have a lot more space!
I have shopping on my mind as we bring Slow Shopping into the village in Surrey where I live to provide a more compassionate, slower and inclusive experience for people who find the whole thing too difficult without that little bit of extra thought or quality communication. More of this later….