Changing perspectives

BY SOPHIE BEHRENDT

The new local online market

None of those involved would have imagined it, but the community of Aljezur is on its way to reinventing shopping behaviour by successfully adapting to the current state. Local people's pragmatism and inventiveness makes an inspiring story.

Nowadays, the common picture in Aljezur is that everyone is patiently respecting the safety distance while queuing in front of large supermarkets and the post office.

Even visiting the beloved Saturday Market is a challenge for many Aljezurians and its visitors. Only a limited amount of farmers and vendors are allowed to sell and display their goods at the moment.

Moreover, cafés, restaurants and local shops are partly closed, therefore some local vendors additionally lost their sales market by selling cakes and bread.

Finding creative solutions in challenging times like the one we are facing now, is the mission of the people in Aljezur. All naturally trying to close the existing gap between local producers who are not finding their loyal and frequent customers and vice versa.

As the local supply at the Saturday Market stopped abruptly, the small team around the local community website Aljezur.Life quickly started missing their weekly freshly cooked Indian lunch boxes, home-baked bread, a dose of hummus and kefir.

With it looking unlikely to return anytime soon, Aljezur.Life had the vision of providing local producers with an easy, affordable and supportive tool to sell their products in an online marketplace. They took into account that not all consumers are organised in social media groups, WhatsApp or Telegram, so the mission of a local online “supermarket” was born.

Determined to help, the team created the website www.aljezur.market at the beginning of April. The platform creates online shops for every local vendor of the region who is interested in selling their products.

After only two weeks, this initiative counts more than 10 local vendorsand is increasing daily. The consumer can order drinks, fruits and veggies, homemade specials, bread and cakes, local arts and crafts, hygiene articles, and other goods of daily use. Everything is combined on one website. The team offers all payment options and installed a “delivery to your doorstep” option.

The goals for the future are to extend the online market and offer a local stress-free shopping experience to tourists planning to visit Aljezur, skipping nerve-wracking supermarket visits during well-deserved holidays in the Algarve region.

Contact Sophie for vendor listing options.

One of the new vendors listing online is Soulkitchen Aljezur

WHAT IS THE STORY OF SOUL KITCHEN ALJEZUR?

Soul Kitchen is a story of love. Love for cooking, love for food, love for health, since we started in 2016.

WHO ARE THE PEOPLE BEHIND SOUL KITCHEN ALJEZUR?

We are Mohini and Dayal. Shortly after we met years ago it became clear that our common passion and destiny is a life of cooking and food. Both our backgrounds are based in culinary and gastronomic families. We are influenced by French-Italian, vegetarian, Indian, vegan and raw cuisine.

WHAT KIND OF FOOD DO YOU OFFER?

We offer yummy products such as hummus, tahinis, sauerkrauts and kefirs and many more.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR UNIQUENESS?

We love what we do and we put our heart into it. We combine traditional Mediterranean recipes with local and fresh ingredients.

WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR SOULKITCHEN?

Providing people with real food. Simply delicious and nourishing.

WHY ARE YOU LISTED ON ALJEZUR. MARKET?

We see this online market as a great initiative.

WHAT ADVANTAGES DO YOU SEE IN AN ONLINE-BASED MARKET PLACE FOR ALJEZUR?

One advantage is the option to unite all the Aljezurian producers and artisans into one selling platform.

WOULD YOU RECOMMEND LOCAL PRODUCERS TO GET LISTED ONLINE?

Yes, we are very proud to be part of this beautiful project.

+INFO:

Facebook: Aljezur.Life

sophie@aljezur.life