Dive Brief:
- Urban Value Corner Store, which operates nine convenience stores inside apartment complexes in Texas, is set to build its first autonomous locations through a new partnership with retail technology firm Juxta, according to a Wednesday announcement.
- The autonomous locations will be about 300 square feet, which are considerably smaller than the company’s legacy stores that span 1,000 to 1,500 square feet, Urban Value CEO Steve McKinley said in an interview. They’ll be built with Juxta’s brand-new Nest format, which is specifically designed for indoor sites.
- Urban Value is aiming to open a “handful” of these locations by the end of 2024, with the first to debut later this summer, McKinley said. All locations will be in Urban Value’s home state of Texas, he noted.
Dive Insight:
Since opening its first location in October 2019, Urban Value has had to pass on several expansion opportunities due to some apartment communities' inability to afford fully staffed convenience stores in its buildings.
This led Urban Value back to the drawing board, where the company realized using an autonomous format was the key to reaching these developments.
“This strategic collaboration with Juxta introduces a state-of-the-art, autonomous retail option, enabling us to provide our unique retail experience to a broader range of Class ‘A’ apartment communities, thereby not just enhancing convenience but also significantly broadening our market reach,” McKinley said via email.
The shopping experience in Juxta’s new Nest store will essentially be the same as its portable Nomad structure, which has been tapped by c-store retailers like Yesway and Golden Pantry Food Stores. Customers shop as normal, and Juxta’s computer vision system and shelf sensors build their baskets in real time. When it’s time to leave, customers can review their baskets at the checkout screen or just walk out.
The key difference between these two formats is that Nest is designed for indoor setups, Steve Liguori, co-founder and chief marketing officer for Juxta, said in an interview.
McKinney, Texas-based Urban Value’s latest venture comes amid the company’s broader growth plan of opening new stores outside of the Lone Star State. Last June, McKinley signed a letter of intent for a store in Charlotte, North Carolina, which at the time was slated to open during the first quarter of 2024.
