Shop 24 and avoid the shopkeepers

A curious piece in yesterday's Guardian G2.

Laura Barton visits Darlington to use a hole-in-the-wall Shop 24 and asks: is this the future of shopping? [I write this following a 1 hour power interrupt in south London, the first I've experienced since the great storms of October 1987, and which caught me in the middle of an online shopping trip to Waitrose supermarket partner, Ocado.]

Like some giant Mars-bar dispenser, the new Darlington vending machine operates 24/7 without staff. Laura's shopping list seems quite straighforward - Rizla rolling paper but no tobacco.. ('this is after all The Guardian' she excuses herself). Maximum order 7 items, pay by card or cash, includes chilled and ordinary shelf items.

"The machine whirs gently, then unceremoniously spits my card on to the pavement". Oh well, some teething problems, clearly. Then "the toilet rolls get stuck in the hatch".

Apparently there are now two Shop 24s in Darlington - following outlets introduced in Belgium - with a further 50 planned across the North-East. They are still ironing out some of the creases, according to Sandy Douglas, responsible for bringing the concept to the UK. According to Laura Barton, "the top purchase is condoms."

Well, I know we've just about got used to taking cash out of automatic tellers in the street - or in some countries, out of machines in enclosed foyers - but what about standing in the street as you conduct your entire shopping process (never mind whether the shop has the things you want). On the other hand, with Shop 24 you can avoid the chirpy shopkeepers when you 've got a hangover and just need a ton of asprins.