With the realization of the EDEKA Future Market project in Nauen, Germany, the regional company EDEKA Minden-Hannover and Schweitzer celebrate another milestone in both companies’ history.
Over the next few weeks, we at Schweitzer will be documenting the final phases of the project before the planned opening in late summer 2024, talking to EDEKA Minden-Hannover managers, the independent EDEKA businessman Christian Dorfmann, who will manage the store in the future, the engineer in charge at EDEKA Minden-Hannover Ben Balon, as well as our in-house experts from Interstore, JDV and Schweitzer and, last but not least, our CEO and owner Bernhard Schweitzer.
How did this pioneering project come about?
Roland Gottlewski
Managing Director of EDEKA-MIHA Immobilien-Service GmbH: We are investing in more climate-friendly and sustainable stores and store concepts throughout the region. After all, sustainability is a declared corporate goal of EDEKA Minden-Hannover and is firmly anchored in our corporate philosophy. As a local supplier, we have a social responsibility that also comes to bear at this location in Nauen. Here, we harmonize ecological, social and economic aspects and not only offer our customers high-quality food, but also create a sustainable shopping experience for them.
What is your vision behind this innovative project?
What expectations/wishes do you have?
Ben Balon
Engineer EDEKA Minden-Hannover:
From a construction point of view, this is a pilot project. Our aim is to gather experience, try out construction methods and technologies with which we have little experience to date and then apply them in our series stores in the future. Our vision was to build the most sustainable supermarket in Germany while remaining authentic. Lighthouse project yes, prestige project no in the spirit of the EDEKA cooperative and its values. The realization of the project is more expensive than the standard construction method, but we still decided to go ahead with it because it is our ambition to continuously drive EDEKA forward.
Christian Dorfmann
EDEKA retailer and Managing Director of EDEKA Nauen:
With EDEKA Nauen, we want to create a ‘market of opportunities’ and also embrace sustainability within the whole market space. It is important to us that customers meet up at our store, even if they aren’t shopping, and have a good time. Our aim is to become a meeting place for customers and suppliers. One of the ways we try to achieve this is by offering a wide and diverse range of regional products. The topic of sustainability is part of my vision and also includes recruiting. This means that we recruit as many employees as possible from Nauen and the surrounding area so that commutes are short and easy. EDEKA Nauen is definitely based on a holistic concept in which the topic of sustainability has been thought through from A to Z and to a large extent implemented. Nevertheless, it remains a consumer market whose range is complemented with premium products.
Bernhard Schweitzer
Owner and CEO Schweitzer & Interstore:
We are delighted that EDEKA Minden-Hannover has once again decided to work with Schweitzer on the development of the Future Market in Nauen. In addition to the store design and shopfitting, in this project we will also be implementing the latest generation of our Waterloop system, including plug-in refrigerated cabinets and counters from our own production.
Our experts at Interstore, with the precious support of our subsidiary agency Jos de Vries in Amsterdam, are realizing the topic of ‘knowledge transfer and consumer education’ in an innovative way as part of the sustainable store concept.
As a world first in one project, we are combining an exciting, inspiring shopping experience with the latest sustainable refrigeration technology in the areas of refrigeration system (Waterloop), refrigeration units (all with 500 g R290) and flexible counter systems (ready to plug in with connection to the Waterloop). With our flexible systems, we also make it easy and uncomplicated to change departments to meet changing customer requirements. Another advantage is the energy efficiency of the Waterloop system, which enables 12% savings compared to a classic CO₂ system and drastically minimizes maintenance and service calls.
More information will follow in the coming weeks.
