Charity Opens Grocery Store That Wants Everyone to Shop There, Not Just the Broke and Desperate

John O'Reilly, head of retail and grocery at Changing Lives Together, has a radical proposition: a grocery store where everyone is welcome, not just those who are down to their last tin of beans. The Very Green Grocery, housed inside the charity's ReUse Warehouse in Crewe, Cheshire, sells retailers' over-supplies, short-dated items, and products whose packaging was apparently attacked during transit.

"If we don't pick this stuff up it goes in a big skip, in landfill. It's good food. We are the outlet to make sure it gets passed on," said O'Reilly, who clearly detests waste almost as much as he loves affordable food.

The deal is simple: customers pay £7 to shop and typically leave with bags of goods worth £30-£35 at retail prices. They can pick a set number of items from each section, including fresh fruit and veg, tinned and baked goods, and frozen foods.

O'Reilly's team of staff and volunteer drivers are on call to collect stock from companies that ping him with a phone call, email, or WhatsApp message. "They know how reactive we can be, so literally I can get a phone call, email, WhatsApp message in the morning, and we can be there within hours," he said.

The catch? The selection varies wildly. "It might be the time you come down, it's 'wow, this is everything I want'. The next time you come down, it might be half of what you need and the next time it might be full again," O'Reilly admitted.

Currently, the grocery opens only twice a week - Wednesday afternoons and Friday mornings - though the charity hopes to expand. "The ideal scenario would be that we were open 5, 6 days a week, the logistics issue we have is obviously getting the stock from suppliers to do that," O'Reilly said.

Tamyra Milne, a regular at the Crewe store, said a weekly shop normally costs her £80. Spending £7 here and another £25 elsewhere feels "ridiculously cheap, and really good as well." She added that more places should have such stores, presumably so everyone can save money and keep perfectly good food out of landfill.

The charity also runs grocery sites in Northwich and Winsford and is looking to expand its list of retailers and distribution firms with surplus food.