A colleague recently shared an initiative with me that’s being piloted in Barnsley and it’s such a great concept that I wanted to share it with you. It’s called Community Shop and, like most good ideas, it’s remarkably simple. It’s basically a member’s store that offers food and other products (such as toiletries) at up to 70% less than retail prices. The shop is open to people on benefits.
The Community Shop can offer savings by selling products that other retailers can’t use for a variety of reasons e.g. short sell-by date or mislabelling.
As well as having social benefits, the store has clear environmental benefits too. If the goods weren’t sold through Community Shop, they’d just end up in landfill.
I think that this initiative has clear links to soup kitchens and food banks in Wolverhampton. I wondered if anyone wanted to take the initiative and take something forward here?
If you want to know more check it out here: http://community-shop.co.uk/
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I’v just been contacted by Colin Carr from the Tettenhall hyper-local site. Apparently they have something similar, although not the same in Tettenhall. The main difference seems to be that anyone can use the shop regardless of income or where they live. Have a look here: http://www.tettenhall.co.uk/the-price-is-right-in-tettenhall/