La Petite Epicerie – A New Community Service on Auroville’s Land.pdf
La Petite Epicerie
– A New Community Service on Auroville’s Land –
February 28th 2026, Auroville’s birthday, saw the joyful opening of Sunship’s ‘La Petite Epicerie’ (‘The Little Grocery Store’) with many people, children and well-wishers who came to discover a beautiful space created with an aspiration for collective participation.
Situated in the Habitat Zone of the City Centre, it already serves the residential communities of the area and the surrounding neighbourhood. For those working in the Town Hall and other administrative offices, this service provides a convenient stop, just a short walk away from many offices, to collect groceries and other items instead of having to run around for the basics in the middle of a busy work-day schedule.
It has been a story of dedication by the team, patiently bearing out many delays and hurdles over several years to be able to offer this collective service to Auroville. The dedicated team which very hard and made it all happen is:
– Louis Cohen who started the collective housing projects in the Habitat Zone with Citadines first and then Sunship, initiating an aspiration that each project offer something to the collective. With Citadines that offering became the Centre d’Art, an active space for exhibitions, films, workshops and more. With Sunship the offering is more service-oriented, with La Petite Epicerie.
– Anandi , our long term, energetic and dedicated presence at PTDC,
– Arul who worked along with Anandi to pull through this new gift for Auroville
– Ananda, of Auroform in Pondicherry who designed the building with a deep aspiration for beauty.
Auroville Connect spoke with Anandi and Arul about how the project came about and how they see it growing.
1. How did the idea of setting up smaller branches of Pour Tous Distribution Centre in different parts of Auroville start?
The Pour Tous Distribution Centre near the kitchen area gradually became too small to serve our growing community and its increasing needs. While an expansion is planned in the near future, the overall development of Auroville across different zones – and the population growth we foresee -made it clear that a more decentralized approach was needed. Creating additional distribution centres allows us to serve people closer to where they live, reducing unnecessary travel, traffic, and congestion, and encouraging a more harmonious flow within the township.
2. What were the hurdles to be crossed? We also see the effort and hard work of the PTDC team to get the Petite Epicerie going. You have started modestly with a half-day opening … how do you see more people joining?
The construction phase itself was challenging, especially within the context of evolving systems in Auroville and the delays created by Covid and the NGT. Fortunately, Louis brought with him an unstoppable energy and a faith that truly moves mountains. Working with him has been a real joy and inspiration.
On the PTDC side, we unfortunately did not receive additional budgetary support from FAMC-BCC due to overall financial constraints.
This has made it challenging to operate two centres with the same resources we previously had for one. For this reason, we are currently opening only in the mornings. We sincerely hope that volunteer support and donations will gradually allow us to open for longer hours and expand the range of items we can distribute.
3. Would you like to see younger residents from Sunship, Citadines and Inspiration pitching in to help in this service in their neighborhood as many people help out in PTDC ?
Very much so. This was actually one of our first requests to the residents of Sunship when we wrote to them. We are happy to share that two residents from Inspiration and Sunship have already begun offering their help, and this support is deeply appreciated. We hope others will feel inspired to join as well. Even a small contribution of time makes a big difference—not only in easing the workload, but in creating a joyful atmosphere of shared service and collective care for our community.
4. How would you see this endeavour gradually help Auroville move toward the Prosperity system ? What is needed and what is lacking at present. With the war in the background, we have to be pragmatic and work with the highest aspiration.
In Auroville, we are constantly called to balance our dreams with practical realities – it is the only way for our ideals to take form. I (Anandi) have deep faith in The Mother’s vision of Auroville as a new kind of society, where goods and services are offered freely to Aurovilians, without the exchange of money within the city.
We are still very far from that ideal, and the current global situation, with its conflicts and uncertainties, can easily discourage us.
Yet The Mother herself was not only a visionary, but also profoundly practical – an extraordinary organizer and realizer. I hold an unwavering faith that her vision will one day manifest, step by step, through our collective effort, sincerity, and perseverance.
We sincerely thank ‘Auroville Connect’ for allowing us to share the contents of their
Inspiring article on La Petite Epicerie!
