In March 2014, the village made worldwide headlines as the first site for the 'Speedy Shop', an automated retailing solution for small communities designed and manufactured by a local business. The shop provides a wide range of supplies.
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Village Vending - The business started in 2011, with a mission to provide outdoor, automated convenience stores giving 24/7 service close to communities.
We were unable to find a machine that was versatile enough for the wide range of products that we wished to sell, and so we designed and manufactured our own machines, known as "The Speedy Shop" (TM) at our factory in Derbyshire, UK.
We have been operating our own machines in our local area for three years and have refined and developed the design of the machine over that time. As operators we know all about the day to day running of the machines and therefore have a unique insight into their operation.
We have machines in small villages, at blocks of flats, and on university campuses. We provide 24/7 convenience shopping to thousands of customers daily.
The machine is fully weatherproof, temperature controlled, and has a number of sophisticated security features. It takes coins, notes, cards and all card and contactless payments, and the exterior cladding of the machine can be custom designed to blend in with its surroundings. The machine can be configured in an almost unlimited number of ways to retail a wide range of goods at all temperatures. Rural operators may be able to access grants and rates relief.
We are now able to offer our machines for sale or rent to operators who wish to provide a service of this nature. At present we are manufacturing for the UK market, but we are interested in international opportunities where a collaboration with a suitable manufacturer can be arranged."
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"How one vending machine keeps the residents of a sleepy village stocked up on the essentials.
Vending machines have been topping the news articles this year with the launch of the first pot dispensing vending machine in Colorado, USA. But machines have made their mark in the newspapers closer to home here in the UK as well. Last month the BBC ran a story about a corner shop with a difference in a little village in Derbyshire.
Clifton said goodbye to its longstanding local corner store 12 years ago and residents had missed its presence, with the elderly feeling the loss more keenly. Due to the distance from other stores and supermarkets, Clifton villagers who did not drive could not easily pop out for a forgotten loaf of bread or pint of milk. The lack of buses passing through the village didn’t help either, with the nearest supermarket more than thirty minutes away on foot.
But local resident Peter Fox decided to invent a new way of shopping for Clifton – by designing a corner shop vending machine!
The Speedy Shop, which Fox created and manufactured with his own hands and now contains patented technology, dispenses all kinds of products ranging from milk to stamps, toilet rolls, tins of beans, dog food, and plasters. The custom-designed machine can even safely dispense eggs.
“We’ve designed the machine around the product,” said Fox. “We’ve been very surprised how many people have used it and not just people from the village, we’ve had people from Mayfield and Ashbourne.”
It seems the Speedy Shop has been a hit in the local community, with the everyone from the elderly to the young making use of it. Though this will come as no surprise considering the machine offers a wide range of choice and provides a key service to an otherwise remotely connected village.
And, as an added bonus, the locals can even check stock levels before setting foot out of the house."
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