A shop for CHF 200

After about a year, Gottlieb Duttweiler added to his sales van concept by opening his first shop. He set up a makeshift location in Zurich’s industrial district, where he sold fresh produce for the first time.

In December 1926, 15 months after the founding of Migros AG, Gottlieb Duttweiler opens the first shop. It is in the middle of Zurich’s industrial district at Ausstellungsstrasse 104, just a stone’s throw from the first sales depot. The building is the new headquarters of Migros and has an office, a garage for the sales vans, a warehouse and a packaging facility in the cellar, in addition to the shop premises.
Duttweiler invests a total of CHF 200 in fittings for the shop. They consist of crates and planks; the cash register is an old cigar box. The shop opens with 48 products on offer, including fresh fruit and potatoes, which are not available from the sales vans. A few months later, Migros receives permission from the police department for the “sale of meat and sausages” and begins to sell smoked sausages and bacon.