A Denton apartment complex is among three multifamily properties in the region that are bringing mini-marts within a few steps of residents' doors.
The Timberlinks at Denton, a garden-style golf course community in southeast Denton managed by Lynd Living, has contracted with an Ohio firm to install a robotic convenience store that can dispense anything from a carton of milk to motor oil by the end of February. Shop24 Global's kiosk-style vending station is the latest in a string of amenities that apartment complexes are offering in a booming rental market to entice new residents and keep others.
Shop24 contains about 200 items that are bestsellers at convenience stores.
The 8-by-9-foot "store," which is manufactured in Plano, fetches items such as soft drinks, cookie dough, aspirin and toilet paper with a robotic arm and accepts cash, credit cards and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cards.
Stores are brightly colored, equipped with safety glass and monitored by security cameras. Temperatures are maintained at 36 degrees, sufficient for fresh food items and household supplies.
A complete late-night meal or just a refill on dishwasher soap is only a short transaction away.
"We want our stores to be close enough so that people can walk out in their socks and underwear and buy," said Mike Weigel, chief sales and marketing officer for Shop24 Global. "We've got to be close to where people live."
The area's first store is set to debut by Monday at Fort Worth's Ladera Palms.
The Fairways at Wilson Creek in McKinney, another Lynd property, will get one about the same time as Denton. Also, an apartment complex near Salt Lake City is scheduled to open a store soon.
Created in Belgium and popular in Europe and Asia for the past 15 years, the stores have been popping up in the U.S. since 2010, when a group of private investors created Shop24 Global by acquiring assets from a Holland holding company that held the brand. The company initially targeted colleges and universities on the East and West Coasts, plus a convenience store in Ohio, until sparking interest in the multifamily housing industry.
A Shop24 booth at last year's National Apartment Association convention in Las Vegas created buzz, and several industry publications have touted the product lately.
"We knew apartments were on our list, but not on the top of it," Weigel said. "At the urging of NAA, we had a showing. After the first hour, we knew we had a hit in the market. The wow factor is just incredible. That's what put us in this channel."
Because the units are manufactured in Plano, the apartment-rich Dallas-Fort Worth area was targeted for marketing multifamily installations.
Jason Espejo, executive vice president for Lynd Living, said in a statement that the company will consider installing more shops if residents like it.
Apartment industry officials said the stores serve as an attractive feature in a booming housing sector that is driven by amenities such as state-of-the-art fitness areas, media rooms and common "living rooms" equipped with Wi-Fi.
Demand for apartments has been rising since 2010, when occupancy levels grew for the first time since a high of nearly 96 percent in third quarter 2007, according to Carrollton-based MPF Research, a firm that studies the multifamily housing market. The numbers are up for apartment complexes in Dallas-Fort Worth, with occupancy levels tracking close to the national level of 94.6 percent.
Amenities such as robotic convenience stores can help property owners remain competitive and keep occupancy rates high, said Gerald W. Henigsman, executive vice president of the Apartment Association of Greater Dallas.
Shop24's revenue sharing plan is an added bonus, he said.
Once installed, Shop24 Global maintains and stocks the store, and shares profits with the complex. Inventory is determined based on a market study of popular products that move at area convenience stores, as well as feedback from customers.
Items must weigh at least a half-ounce and no more than 8 pounds, and meet height restrictions.
Up to seven items, priced competitively with area convenience stores, can be purchased with one transaction.
Henigsman said Shop24 can be a great amenity - as long as it's not a target for vandals.
"People use convenience stores for a lot of the basics," he said. "I think you're going to have a number of communities embrace it. The question is, will it in the long haul maintain as an amenity. Will there be break-ins? Vandalism? That's going to take time" to assess.
Weigel says stores are safe enough for a child to operate. Of 300 European stores installed since the late 1990s, none have had break-ins, he said. Bullet-resistant glass, a stainless steel structure with limited access (the robot is in front of the cash box) and eight security cameras have been enough to deter vandalism.
"You can't move it," Weigel said.
