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Johnny Humphries,north west
A charity boss who set up a community shop selling groceries at a fraction of the supermarket price said the concept was so successful “it went a bit crazy”.
Andy Hawthorne is the Chief Executive of The Message Trust, a Christian charity which aims to tackle food insecurity by providing access to affordable groceries.
The Trust runs a community-member store in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester, which sells food donated by supermarkets, or which would otherwise go to landfill, at a heavily discounted rate.
“People often walk into this place in despair, we see it in their eyes and their demeanor and they smell hope,” Hawthorne told the BBC.
He said the idea came during the coronavirus pandemic when the trust was delivering food to vulnerable people.
“We saw a desperate need,” Hawthorne said.
“So we came up with this dream: let’s start a shop, let’s stop food from going to landfill, let’s get a lot of donations and let’s buy some favorite things.
“We will make sure it is well stocked and let’s try to provide food for families at a fraction of the supermarket cost.
“And honestly, it’s been a little crazy.”
The result was the Trust’s flagship shop in Sharston.
Shopper Beatrice Zulu told the BBC it was “absolutely amazing” to help keep her bills down.
“Especially in the days after Christmas, when you’re probably thinking everything’s gone, but if you come here and it’s a fiver you can get your veg, you can get your fruit, you can get your meat, you can get your bread, it’s really, really good and really, really useful,” she said.
Hawthorne said demand has increased since then and the charity now runs 34 similar shops across the country with around 100,000 members.
A food shop costs about 25% less than a regular supermarket, and the charity also offers “wraparound support” with loans or courses on mental health management.
The food placed on the shelves is a combination of “perfectly good” stock that is close to its sell-by date, donated food and stock purchased by the charity with its own funds.
Sharston Shop member Kathleen Roper said: “What you would spend as much as £20 in the shops, you can get here for £5.
“So it’s a huge, huge gap and it’s always full. Fresh vegetables, especially in stores, are so expensive that you can’t afford it.
“I can’t really survive if I go out shopping.”