Meran, or Merano, is in that part of Alpine Italy where things become a little confused – are you actually in a German or Italian-speaking nation?
Whichever is the case, and the lingua franca in this part of the world tends to be Teutonic, this store is at the very heart of the town and has few equals as a destination when it comes to encouraging the customer to buy.
Owned by a local family, the interior is almost completely new following a revamp by Schweitzer, the design and build business that is just a few kilometres down the road. And what has been done is to take a shop that was about 530 sq ft and almost quadruple the interior space by extending backwards and opening the basement.
The project has taken the best part of eight months to complete and the store reopened recently with meat on the ground floor and ambient goods and a local cheese offer in the basement, where ancient stone arches have been turned into a feature. All of which would look impressive in its own right, but the standard of visual merchandising in this shop would leave many delicatessens looking to their laurels.
The point about a good food offer is not just to have the right things in the right place, but to make them mouth-watering while you’re at it. Siebenförcher, which was originally solely a butcher, does just that.
This kind of thing does not come cheap, so if you want to enjoy a slice of the local delicacy, a cured meat, expect to pay for the privilege. On the other hand, in surroundings like this, you don’t mind doing so.
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