Trendy food bank taking shame out of poverty
Vision of returning to corner shop era
“NO one is coming here because they want to. We’re here because we’ve swallowed our pride,” says one mum, standing in a former mill in Bolton.
Tucked away in one corner of the cavernous Bury Road building is a room that looks like a trendy grocery, complete with hand-written signs above wooden shelves stacked with fresh fruit and boxes artfully arranged.
It wouldn’t look out of place in Ancoats, Chorlton or any other part of Greater Manchester associated with affluent hipsters.
You would never guess it’s a food bank/discount store for struggling families - and that’s quite deliberate. The style of the shop is intended to take the shame out of poverty.
Dubbed the ‘Community Grocery,’ it is stocked with donated and surplus food from supermarkets and manufacturers, aimed at helping those who cannot afford to shop for day-to-day items.
The rules are these: pay an annual £5 joining fee, followed by a flat rate of £3 per shop and customers can take home as much as £40-worth of branded supermarket shopping, hopefully leaving them with enough to make meals for weeks and household supplies that will last months.
The food bank, along with the rest of the building, is being run by The Message - a Wythenshawe-based Christian charity and church with nationwide operations.
The charity has opened no less than six Community Grocery shops in almost as many weeks, including locations in Salford and Wigan, following the first branch in Wythenshawe.
The stores are set to be followed by six more by the end of the year, financed by government Covid-19 relief grants.
The ‘vision,’ say shop staff, is clear: this is a food bank for the modern era.
“We want it to be a bridge between food banks and supermarkets, with the look and feel of Ancoats General Store. We want to help those in need have a dignified experience,” says Sam Hawthorne, head of enterprise at The Message.
“It doesn’t look like a food bank and that’s what we want. We want it to look a bit like an M&S advert and for people to think ‘what an amazing welcome.’
“We’re really trying to instil to anyone that wants to come that it’s more than just an Aldi or a Lidl and it’s more than just a food bank, it’s a personal shopping experience.
“We want to operate like an old corner shop from 30 or 40 years ago - know all of our customers by name, vulnerable members in particular. We want to know their habits. That way, when someone hasn’t been to the shop in a few weeks, we’ll know to check in on them.
“Our system actually flags up when a member hasn’t been for some time, so we can send someone to their home with an emergency food parcel.
“It’s a bit like a family.”