Jan Prinsen researches fruit and vegetable opportunities in Stockholm

Jan Prinsen was recently in Stockholm studying distribution of fruit and vegetables in European cities. Jan said: "Stockholm is a modern city where the car isn't strongly relied on, unlike Brussels, Gent or Antwerp. We visited different shops and the findings are described in this article for the fruit and vegetable trade, (shop and market)."

Many Lidl stores in the city
"In Stockholm we noticed many small shops, such as Proxy, Delhaize, ICA, Hemkop, 7-Eleven and Lidl. Discounters such as Lidl are strongly present in this city. What concerns Lidl supermarkets here is the same as in any other location, they pay attention to the basic fruit such as bananas, oranges, apples and pears. Additionally there is a lot of attention given to providing organic products within those basic articles, i.e. bananas and apple. We saw very little, if any, packaged fruit which could mean them being environmentally friendly.

"Shops were really cared for, really clean," observed Jan. "In every metro station there was always a little shop giving prominence to bananas or apples. Within the city there were also little markets selling a wider selection of fruit and vegetables. Dutch products were prominent in the shops and on the market (particularly tomatoes). Stockholm is a city with a lot of young people and where a lot of outdoor consumption takes place. It was really interesting to study this city and its way of life."

For more information:
Jan Prinsen
Belgian Fresh Food Institute
[email protected]
www.belgianfreshfoodinstitute.be