New regional supplier for Steyrdorf: “Ums EGG” opens up in a historic building

In the spring of 2018, Bernd Fischer and some like-minded people decided to revive the local supply in the center of Losenstein, which had just been shut down. With the idea of ​​a cooperative supermarket, the native Rhinelander hit the “nerve of the times”. Both the members of the cooperative and the suppliers become co-owners of the business model. This automatically increases interest, responsibility and commitment.

With the designation “Ums EGG”, a name was created that now stands for the best quality, solid selection and fair prices at three locations. “Hundred members are the basis for the functioning of the cooperative model at each location. In Losenstein there are already 136,” says Managing Director Fischer.

Trial operation from May

During the conversation with the Steyrer Zeitung, a young couple logs in with their membership card and enters the shop. The two head purposefully towards the empties shelf, hand in their containers and fill the shopping basket. Finally, they scan their goods at the checkout and pay without cash. A few friendly words in the direction of Bernd Fischer document how comfortable the young duo feels as a partner in “their” business.

On June 3, “Ums EGG” will also open a supermarket in Steyr at Wieserfeldplatz 6, where the café and confectionery of the Rieß bakery was located until two years ago. “The work is in full swing,” says Fischer, “the Steyr cooperative members are slowly reaching the final phase with the adaptation work. Trial operation is scheduled to start in mid-May.”

In the “Eisenstadt” with 115 members, the necessary 100 mark has already been cracked and is constantly growing. The members of the cooperative in Steyr want to score particularly well with one of the recipes for success: They obtain half of the goods from organic wholesalers and the remaining 50 percent from regional direct marketers. In the end, this leaves a total organic content of around 80 percent.

Incidentally, the new quarter at Wieserfeldplatz is also steeped in history: as early as the 18th century there was a grocery store for more than 40 years, and from 1848 until well after the Second World War the building housed a “small children’s detention center”. (loc)