01.10.2012 - How to open a grocery store

Recent studies show that Italians start to do shopping in the stores located just around the corner. They returned to the habit of bringing their lunch from home, like it was done decades ago. Therefore, it seems comfortable to have at your disposition a small grocery store located next to the place you live or work every time you need it. After analyzing the video from the Chamber of Commerce, let's see in practice what are the steps of opening a grocery store.

FIRST STEP

As always, determine what kind of business you would like to establish: sole proprietorship, family business, company?

SECOND STEP

Register your activity in the Commercial Registry office (Registro delle Imprese).

THIRD STEP

Report the opening of your production activity with the immediate effect by filing in

• MODELLO A together with the technical files 1 and 2 if it concerns a new store or its transformation
• MODELLO B together with the technical file 2 if it concerns taking over an existing store

in a municipal office (Comune) using "SUAP online access point"

DETAILS

In order to open a business in the food industry, a bar, a restaurant or, in general, an activity which main purpose is to provide food and drinks, there is no need to subscribe to REC (Registro degli Esercenti il Commercio), which was abolished completely by the law 248/06, but you have to contact the municipalities, whose job is to establish moral and professional requirements to allow these types of activity. What are these conditions?

• to have a diploma of a catering college or a corresponding legally acknowledged degree;
• to complete with a positive result a specific training course;
• having worked at least two years during the last five years in a company selling food or providing food and drinks as a qualified employee or, in case of a spouse, a family member or the entrepreneur's third-degree relative, working as a contributing family worker, evidenced by INPS.

It is advisable to refer to municipal offices in order to check if there are some additional or specific requirements.

SOCIAL SECURITY AND WELFARE

INPS registration for artisans and merchants. Contributions for the year 2012 are presented clearly by INPS in the newsletter n. 14 from February 3, 2012. It is important to know that for merchants INPS provides a fixed annual contribution payment (to be paid in quarterly installments) for the minimum income of € 14,930.00. It means also that even if the income is below this limit, the contribution to INPS will still apply.

In short, focusing on the part we have a particular interest in, merchants' contributions are € 3,200.96, payable in quarterly installments of € 800.24 no later than:

February 16

May 16

August 20

November 16

In conclusion, it can said that opening a grocery store in the time of global crisis can lead to satisfactory economic results only when estimating precisely the initial costs and future revenues.

*IVS - invalidità, vecchiaia, superstiti