Consumers Embracing Self-Service Shopping

These small, individually locked compartments, which can be refrigerated or frozen, are placed into the walls of a store or sales kiosk, giving them the appearance of a large vending machine. Each glass-fronted locker displays an item for sale, ranging from cuts of meat and ready-made meals to fresh eggs and produce. Customers select their items using a touchscreen and pay electronically. The smart lockers then unlock automatically, allowing customers to collect their purchases without assistance from an employee, at any time of day.

Rethinking the Traditional Grocery Store

The idea first came to Julie Nadeau as she was searching for a way to sell Parthenais beef raised on her family farm directly to consumers, bypassing major supermarket chains.

"We first wanted to sell the products from our own farm, and then make it easier for people in our community to buy local," explains Julie Nadeau, farmer and co-owner of Le Casier bleu, a new, fully automated smart market in Saint-Césaire. The business has chosen to carry exclusively local products from agri-food entrepreneurs in the region.

An Agricultural Company That Perseveres and Paves the Way in Quebec

After more than five years of work, Julie Nadeau finally convinced the locker manufacturer to bring the technology from France to Quebec, followed by another two years to secure financial backing.  Between building renovations, locker installation, and setting up an on-site dining area, the project required an investment of several hundred thousand dollars.

"We managed to build a space where people don't just come to buy local products—they actually sit down and enjoy them right on-site. Foot traffic has been great, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive," Nadeau notes.

Le Casier bleu recently secured a grant to open a second location in a village with limited access to fresh food. The initiative could help make local products more accessible to communities that are currently underserved.