The initial idea
There was no longer a convenience store in Saint-Léandre, a village of around 360 inhabitants located about fifteen kilometers from Matane, in Gaspésie. In the woods, not by the sea.
Camille Therrien-Tremblay is an entrepreneur who lives there. She saw all the businesses in her village close one by one.
The convenience store was the last to go out of business, in 2021.
His company, CAMM Construction, specializes in micro-housing. “We are creating living spaces that will go with the nature of the activities that will take place in the building,” explains Camille Therrien-Tremblay. For example, dressing rooms for artists during events, ready-to-camp, microchalets, tiny houses, tourist reception offices. We have this ability to be creative depending on the use of the building. »
In the void created by the closure of the convenience store, she saw a business opportunity, but also an opportunity to eliminate food deserts, those places where you cannot, within a reasonable distance, find basic foods. Camille Therrien-Tremblay did research to see what was being done elsewhere, in the same niche. She came across a Swedish company that makes convenience stores and which greatly inspired her business model.
She then looked at possible programs to support her prototype, which is also a pilot project. In particular, she was entitled to funds reserved for devitalized regions, entrepreneurship grants, development grants, and then support from the municipality, which provided the location, free of charge. All of this helped finance 90% of the manufacturing and launch costs – around $150,000.
Innovation
In the summer of 2023, the village of Saint-Léandre got its convenience store back with the arrival of Petit Lib, a self-service mini-commerce the size of a container. The store is accessible at all times and there are basic products – food, hygiene, care and maintenance.
Need an egg at the last minute to make your cake? The business contains a fridge and a freezer.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY LIB
The Lib convenience store is accessible at all times and offers basic products – food, hygiene, care and maintenance.
There’s also everything you need to build a complete meal – and the classic candy and chips, essential to any self-respecting convenience store.
Sales change depending on the time of day or night, with an increase in demand for frozen ready-to-eat meals around meal times, milk in the morning and snacks late in the evening or at the end of party.
Since it opened last summer, 378 different customers have visited. Some of which come from elsewhere than Saint-Léandre, since 30% of the local population is not part of the clientele.
The convenience store is powered by a generator. It works in the event of a breakdown, which is not uncommon in the village, apparently. There is also a WiFi area.
“When there is a storm and we can no longer leave the village,” says the young entrepreneur, “the convenience store works. »
Challenges
The customer uses their phone to enter the store, then scan the product code and pay the bill. It’s very practical, but it can be a hindrance for a part of the population who does not have a cell phone or who is not comfortable with electronic payment. Lib will add a card system soon for this clientele.
Labor, however, is not an issue: only one employee is needed to maintain the convenience store and fulfill orders, which represents approximately five hours per week. Foods that are approaching their expiration date are frozen, which limits losses. Orders were adjusted during the first months of use, and when there are unsold items, they are returned to the village counter or to the school.
The future
Microcommerce could well multiply, because there are numerous requests throughout Quebec, mainly in regions that find themselves with a situation comparable to that of Saint-Léandre.
“It’s incredible the number of convenience stores that are closing in Quebec,” says Camille Therrien-Tremblay.
A version on wheels will be made to tour the Gaspésie to show the product.
“We said to ourselves that if it worked in Saint-Léandre, it could work everywhere,” says Camille Therrien-Tremblay. And it works: the convenience store is profitable. “I’m hopeful that after we open one or two more, demand will explode. »