The new Wythenshawe Community Grocery that lets people do a weekly shop for just £3

The Community Grocery store in Wythenshawe lets shoppers stock up their fridge for just £3. 

The shop is from the people behind The Mess Cafe which employs and trains ex-offenders and aims to bridge the gap between expensive supermarkets and food banks.

The store is stocked full of food donated from local suppliers and supermarkets with a drastically reduced priced. 

Local businesses such as R Noone & Son, FareShare and local branches of Tesco and The Mess Cafe’s regular suppliers have all also been donating food to the new grocery store.

The local community has celebrated the new shop that allows people who are left in vulnerable positions due to the pandemic shop with independence and dignity. 

The Mess Cafe provides training and employment to ex-offenders but due to the pandemic was forced to close. 

Inspired by Marcus Rashford’s efforts, The Message Trust began to prepare healthy meals for children who were missing out on school lunches – sending out a total of 60,000 meals.

The affordable grocery store idea was born after the team realised more and more families and individuals were being pushed closer to the poverty line due to the pandemic.

Ellie Dickinson from The Message Trust spoke to the MEN: “Initially it was just for children who weren’t in school any more but would have qualified for free school meals, and then we realised there were vulnerable families who weren’t at work, or isolating, or just couldn’t afford to go shopping.

“It made us realise that there was a real need for more than just hot meals – often people couldn’t afford their weekly shop.

“The Community Grocery is touching on two points – it’s a low-cost food shop that still gives people that agency, and no one feels like they’re going to a food bank.

“I think that is quite hard for a lot of people, if they get to that stage.

“Because it’s a shop, each week they can actually choose what they want. They’re not just given a box without knowing what’s in it.

“It’s actually a really aesthetically pleasing shop too – it looks like Ancoats General Store which just adds to the experience!”

The Community Grocery project has a £5 annual membership fee which allows members to receive job workshops, career advice, mental wellbeing courses plus help on writing CV and working on computers.

Following that it’s just £3 per food shop and members are able to visit twice a week.

Depending on supplies each week, the amount of food available to each member changes. The most recent week’s shopping list included; five pieces of fresh fruit or veg, two bread items, five canned or boxed items, two freezer items, two fridge items, four different ‘best before’ items (close to the best before date but still safe to eat), one ‘non-food item’, and two potted plants.

Ellie added: “There have been so many people in the local community who have said ‘Look, I don’t need this, but I’d like to cover someone else’s membership’. It’s been lovely.

“There’s been a real outpouring of support that we didn’t expect.

“We initially did a soft launch for the people we were delivering meals to during lockdown – they were our priority.

“But they spread the word and now we’ve got over 200 members and queues down the street! It’s been wonderful.”

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