Farmers’ shop outdoes supermarkets

A FARM shop owned and run by 40 Alsace farmers has beaten supermarkets at their own game, selling a range of produce cheaper while doing €2.5million of business and still turning a profit.

The Coeur Paysan shop is in an old Lidl store in Colmar that the farmers bought and converted themselves. They stock it with fruit, vegetables, cheese and other dairy and meat products plus beer, wine, bread, jams and honey, fish and pasta.

All the produce comes from within 40km of the shop and producers often sell it themselves to ‘put a face to the product’.

Market gardener Denis Digel, who first had the idea, said Coeur Paysan had a 22-32% margin on sales against supermarkets’ 33% to 66% and the farmers said they made more at the farm shop.

While some products could be more expensive he said the quality was not the same and added that he grew 35 types of tomato but the supermarket would only sell two types.