‘Futuristic’ convenience store now open in London

London is home to a new self-service convenience store. There’s no one cashing customers out — it’s all done with a smart-phone.

“I’ve never experienced something like this. It’s so cool and futuristic,” said customer Katrina Younes

It’s called Aisle 24 and you can get everything from your milk and eggs, to laundry detergent, with one unique feature

Western University graduate Ganesh Tadikonda says he decided to franchise the first Aisle 24 in London because there was nothing like it here, and the model has been successful elsewhere.

“This is a like an unmanned store, in the sense that it’s an unattended market… I have spoken to other franchise owners, the convenience about having this franchise is the technology is already developed,” said Tadikonda.

Aisle 24 Market was originally co- founded in 2016 by John Douang.

“Our whole goal around the business was to save people time, and also save the owners and the operators time, because I saw how many hours a week my parents had to work,” said Douang

His parents owned and operated a convince store for 12 years and he worked in I.T — Aisle 24 is a blend of those two lived experiences.

“I stumbled upon an article about future technologies – vending technologies and it was like a lightbulb went off,” said Douang.

That lightbulb moment has led to 29 stores across Canada, with 70,000 members.

Customers get into the store with the Aisle 24 app on their smartphone that unlocks the door.

They grab the items they need, then go to a self-checkout kiosk to pay for their groceries.

When it comes to security, the company relies on high-tech A.I based cameras

“It will track every movement of the customer, how many items are picked, how many items are brought to the self checkout POS [point of sale], and how many items are scanned,” Douang added.

The stores are accessible 24/7 anytime of the year and is located at 1325 Riverbend Rd Unit-190 in London.