Partnership with Swiss Post – a huge benefit

The village of Vättis, which has a population of 467 (as at 1 July 2023), is situated in the south-eastern corner of the Canton of St. Gallen. As a partner of Swiss Post, Hubert Kohler’s grocery store ran a branch with partner until the end of 2022. When he decided to close the business, Swiss Post asked the “Verein Dorfladen Vättis” store association to take over the Swiss Post branch. Following talks between the association management and Swiss Post, a decision was made to enter into a partnership on 1 January 2023 and run a Swiss Post branch at the Vättis village store.

Added value for the village shop and customers alike

Sonja Bonderer, head of the “Verein Dorfladen Vättis”, believes the partnership with Swiss Post is of great benefit to the Vättis village store. Having the Swiss Post branch in the village store provides the association with welcome additional income. It also creates added value for customers, who can now do their shopping and carry out their postal transactions at the same place. Sonja Bonderer says that’s something local people really appreciate. The new longer opening hours, in the evening to begin with, are also proving popular. It allows people who are employed during the day to collect their consignments after work.

A win-win scenario

The village store is becoming a main meeting place. As well as shopping, customers can also have a chat at a “Café to Go”. Integrating a Swiss Post branch now has definitely produced a win-win situation. However, as it’s quite small, it’s hard to avoid conversations being overheard. That’s why the sales staff try to show as much discretion as possible when carrying out postal transactions for customers.

Reliant on support

Running a corner shop is really tough now, competing against the major discounters, and a huge challenge financially. But the villagers support the store as much as they can through membership fees and donations as well as by shopping there. The association committee is always trying to improve the store with new products and business ideas.

Four local sales staff are currently working at the village store part-time. Three of them started when the store opened in 2018.