A one-of-a-kind in Sausal – the Unibox

Pit stop in a syreta success story

Ever since the presentation of the first Unibox, which was conceived entirely by Syreta, it has enjoyed great popularity. Now syreta was able to secure local supply in the municipality of Kitzeck for 1,214 residents and also build a Unibox there.

syreta’s assembly and construction team truly rose to the occasion. In just three days, the floor, furnishings, lighting, glazing, electrics, fittings and equipment, and technology were completed. In order not to disrupt the appearance of Austria’s highest-altitude winegrowing village, the new Unibox also comes with a special feature – it was “built into” a separately constructed building with a wood-look finish.

At the newly opened Unibox, syreta’s new retail hub was also used for the first time. This integrates all hardware and software components of the store. This makes it possible for retailers to manage the entire sales and building control, logistics processes, and monitoring easily via an app. That’s what we call out-of-the-box thinking.

What makes the Unibox in Kitzeck special is not only the technology – but the social significance behind it. Kitzeck im Sausal, the highest-altitude place with winegrowing in Austria, no longer had a local supplier. The Unibox closes this gap: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, fully autonomous.

The fact that the building was deliberately constructed in a wood look so as not to disturb the village’s appearance shows that syreta has thought not only technically, but also in terms of design. And the fact that the new retail hub is being used for the first time – an app through which retailers can centrally control the store, logistics and monitoring – makes Kitzeck a pilot project for the next generation of autonomous local supply.

Local supply in rural areas – a growing problem with a digital solution

The retreat of grocery retail from small communities is a phenomenon across Austria. When the last corner shop closes, it hits older people and families without a car especially hard — because the nearest supermarket is often several kilometers away. Kitzeck im Sausal, with 1,214 residents and known as Austria’s highest-altitude winegrowing village, faced exactly this problem. syreta’s Unibox provides an answer that works both technically and economically: a fully automated store that is open around the clock, does not incur ongoing staffing costs, and can be easily and centrally managed via the new syreta retail hub. The fact that syreta’s assembly and construction team completed the entire installation — flooring, furnishings, lighting, glazing, electrics and technology — in just three days shows the mature process readiness behind this concept. The Unibox in Kitzeck is therefore not just a standalone project, but a model for many other communities that want to rethink their local supply.