Vorarlberg funds new local food shop in Brand
Saturday 15th August 2026 on 14:30 in
Austria
The state of Vorarlberg is providing 150,000 euros for the construction of a new food shop in the municipality of Brand, ORF reported. The funding is intended to support local supply and quality of life in the community.
More than 7,000 people in Vorarlberg currently live without a local food shop and must travel to another municipality to shop, according to an overview by the Vorarlberg Chamber of Commerce. Twelve municipalities have no food shop, although the chamber says overall supply remains at a high level. For 79 percent of the population, a shop is located within one kilometre.
“With this support, we are giving a local food shop a boost and investing in quality of life on the ground,” said Economics Minister Marco Tittler. The state aims to ensure reliable supplies close to where people live and to create equal living conditions across all regions.
Last year, Vorarlberg provided around 880,000 euros in grants to support 43 food shops and help secure the continued operation of village shops in smaller municipalities. Operating-cost grants are capped at 27,500 euros. The state also provides investment grants for projects such as new construction or expansion.
This year, grants have included 27,000 euros for the Spar-Markt Schwendiger in Dornbirn-Watzenegg, 3,700 euros for the Adeg in Schoppernau and almost 3,000 euros for the Konsum in Bizau. The village shop in Dafins, part of Zwischenwasser, has received 27,500 euros, while the latest listed grant was 14,500 euros for the village shop in Viktorsberg.
Tittler said local food shops were both businesses and meeting places that kept value in the region and helped hold village communities together. He added that loyal customers were also needed to keep the network viable: “Shopping locally strengthens the local food shop.”
However, the Chamber of Commerce report identifies a clear trend towards larger types of business. Small shops are becoming less important, while supermarkets with 400 to 999 square metres and hypermarkets with at least 1,000 square metres are continuing to grow. Since 2000, supermarket floor space has increased by around 42 percent and hypermarket floor space by 56 percent, according to an analysis of Vorarlberg’s food retail sector.