Ensuring local supply in municipallities in Burgenland

About one-third of the municipalities in the Federal State of Burgenland have no grocery store in their municipal area. Also, the structure of the grocery stores has changed dramatically in recent decades. New supermarkets are mainly developed in the outskirts of municipalities and are strong competitors for local suppliers in the village centers. The impacts on the communities are diverse: The traffic is increasing, as the supermarkets located outside the area of the village center are well achieved mostly by car. This development also has implications on the development of village centers, as the grocery stores for daily needs were important frequency bringer in village centers and their decline thus also affects the other local suppliers in the community. But also affects regarding the social structure of the community can be observed as the traditional local suppliers in the communities have more than just a supplier function. The aim of this study is to work out fundamentals for developing a strategy and concrete tools to ensure the local supply in Burgenland - one of the key issues for the development of (especially rural) areas. The baseline study should serve as a basis for a (coordinated) strategy development as part of the village renewal strategy in the Federal State of Burgenland and contains recommendations and good-practice-examples.