Community Shop, the award-winning social supermarket, will open its latest store in Hoyland, Barnsley, on 10th July 2024, providing hundreds of local people with access to deeply discounted food and household products, as well as life-changing learning and development programmes.
The store will be the 13th in Community Shop’s network of social supermarkets, based within some of the UK’s most deprived communities. This latest store is opening thanks to the support of Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council and one of Community Shop’s long-standing partners, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP), who have unlocked the value from their surplus products to generate the funding to transform the former Co-op on Hoyland’s High Street.
Community Shop is part of Company Shop Group, the UK’s leading redistributor of surplus food and household products. Community Shop sells these surplus products, which are perfectly good to eat or use and have been donated by major retailers, brands and manufacturers, to provide members with quality products at affordable price. The products are deemed ‘surplus’ for reasons such as incorrect labelling or seasonal packaging, meaning they may otherwise have gone to waste.
Over the last 10 years, Community Shop has supported over 61,000 families and helped them save more than £51m on their shopping, creating the equivalent of 30.4m meals from surplus food.
Set around three interconnected spaces, the new Community Shop in Hoyland will reinvest revenue raised in its store into its Community Hub, which will offer personal development programmes tailored to the needs of members. Over the last decade the Community Hubs have delivered over 175,000 learning and development programmes, offering a mix of skills training and personal mentoring, with over 5,000 new skills and qualifications gained, and more than 2,500 people returning to employment as a result.
The store will also house a Community Kitchen, offering low-cost wholesome hot meals. Kids eat for free in the kitchens which, since Community Shop began in 2013, have served more than 800,000 free kids meals.
As part of its Progress Academy, a programme that directly supports people back into work, Community Shop will later this year commence the rollout of ‘Fresh Start Open Days’ across all Community Shops. The initiative is being sponsored by CCEP and will provide people with the opportunity to find out more about training and support available and directly help them into their next job.
Gary Stott, executive chairman of Community Shop, said: “We can’t wait to open Community Shop Hoyland and welcome members into their new store. Cost of living challenges remain for many people, and this store will make an enormous difference to those who may be struggling to put food on the table.
“Community Shop is much more than just food and through our ‘What If’ plan we will deliver thousands of life-changing development opportunities each year in this store. Thanks to the support of CCEP we’re also introducing Fresh Start Open Days which are specifically aimed at getting people into our Progress Academy and helping them gain the necessary skills to return to work.”
Holly Firmin, senior community partnerships manager at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, said: “We’re proud to be supporting the opening of a Community Shop here in Barnsley. As a local manufacturer in Great Britain, we’re committed to supporting the communities where we operate. Our manufacturing site has been deeply rooted in the local area for 35 years, so being able to help Community Shop in their efforts to bring such an invaluable service to support local people means a lot to us.
“We have been a consistent donor of surplus product to Community Shop for over four years and I’m really looking forward to seeing the impact the shop in Holyland has over the coming months and years, and to continue working closely with the team there.”
The store operates on a free membership basis and will be open to anyone who lives locally and receives welfare support, are on a low income or are referred to Community Shop by a partner organisation.
