The Bitterne Box Co, which distributes food boxes filled with local produce by bicycle citywide, is opening a permanent shop at the Triangle.

 

Say cheese

Robin Bluemel, pictured, who runs The Bitterne Box Co, said he'll be collecting keys to what's now the Art'el shop, which is currently offering a seasonal market for local artists, on January 1.

He intends to open up the new store "at some point in January".

"I don't want to hang around too long," he said.

Inside the Box Co's industrial unit

Now delivering as far afield as Totton, Romsey, Hedge End, Eastleigh, Bursledon, Hamble and Netley (an electric van serves further afield) The Bitterne Box Co is a significant operation, selling somewhere near a thousand different products, employing three people and based out of a busy unit on Belgrave Industrial Estate – complete with a (rather large) £16,000 fridge!

Nick, operations manager at Zedify, loads a bike trailer with veg boxes

 

It's offered a delivery service for nearly five years – now largely delivered by distinctive Zedify cycle transport, which is conveniently situated in the next door but one unit.

Bitterne Box's range spans not just fruit and veg, but chilled goods including speciality cheeses and other dairy items, meat alternatives, dried goods such as pasta and tinned foods, and environmentally-friendly household products.

Wherever possible goods are locally sourced, and as wide a range as possible from the Bitterne Box range will be stocked at the Triangle.

"Quite a lot of the groceries are organic or in some way ethical or environmentally conscious," said Robin, who also wants to offer a small refillery area for stocking up on "some household products and some foodstuffs".

"And I want to get the shop licensed ... I want to sell local beer, wines, gin etc," he said.

Greengrocers' shops have come and gone at the Triangle over the last 20 years: the final iteration was 'Manor Farm' fruit and veg shop, which closed in around 2013. It was followed by the pop-up Veg Shed on Saturdays – itself latterly run by The Bitterne Box Company.

But this is not what the new shop will be.

"I don't think I'm really going to be a greengrocer," said Robin. "I think it's going to be called 'Bitterne Park Stores', at least for now, just so that I can get everything up and running. I quite like that name.

"I think fruit and veg is going to be maybe one wall of the shop ... in the same way that the Co-op has a small fruit and veg section and then has the rest of the shop..."

Say cheese

"I think a lot of it is going to be the other products I sell. There's nowhere good round there to get some of the organic produce I sell... there's nowhere good to get cheeses for miles. And if I didn't already have these products I'm not sure I could ... just go and open a shop at the Triangle and then expect to move enough stock, and have enough of the contacts to offer the range of products that I offer now.

"But because I've already got these products [in the unit], I'm already selling all of this stuff through the Bitterne Box, all I need to do is sell a little more of it."

"I feel it's going to tie in well with what I'm already doing."

And he said having the industrial unit nearby means he'll be able to restock quickly. "I can put out two of everything I sell on the shelves, and when things sell I can just replace them on a similar scale."

"It's just going to be quite interesting to see how it all works."