Community Shop, the award-winning social supermarket, has opened its latest store in Hoyland, Barnsley, 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 is the 13th in Community Shop’s network of social supermarkets, based within some of the UK’s most deprived communities. This latest store has opened 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.  

Set around three interconnected spaces, the new Community Shop in Hoyland will reinvest revenue raised in its store into its Community Hub, to offer personal development programmes tailored to the needs of members. Over the last decade the Community Hubs have delivered over 218,000 learning and development programmes, offering a mix of skills training and personal mentoring, with over 3,000 people returning to employment as a result.  

The store also has 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 880,000 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:

Holly Firmin, Senior Community Partnerships Manager at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners said: 

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.