Wirral's social supermarket, Community Shop Beechwood has officially opened

Social supermarket Community Shop Beechwood has officially opened its doors in Wirral.

The store is located in Manor House on Beechwood Drive (CH43 7ZU), and membership is open to people who live locally, receive welfare support, and are motivated to make a positive change to their lives.

Supporting an estimated 750 members, Community Shop Beechwood offers heavily discounted food and products, which are on average around 50% off the normal retail price, helping families to stretch their budgets further. These have mostly been donated by major retailers and manufacturers and would otherwise have gone to waste.

Alongside the discounted items, members have access to the Community Hub and Community Kitchen. The Hub provides personal development support with everything from home budgeting to interview skills and business courses, while the Kitchen offers wholesome hot meals to members and their families, with children eating for free.

Community Shop Beechwood has been made possible thanks to the generous support of a number of partners, including Onward Homes, Ocado, Little Centre, Tranmere, Big Local, Be Wirral and Wirral Council.

The new store opened at 10am on Wednesday 23 June with the Mayor of Wirral, Councillor George Davies, leading the official opening ceremony.

As well as welcoming new members in-store, Community Shop’s chefs delivered live cooking demonstrations. Team mentors were also there to talk new members through the varied training and development programmes on offer, with members from other Community Shop’s also attending to share their success stories.

Community Shop is part of the UK’s leading surplus redistribution organisation, Company Shop Group, which runs 13 redistribution superstores, including Company Shop St Helens.

Natalie Brown, Head of Community Shop said:

“We’re really pleased to be able to open Community Shop Beechwood, which we are delighted to bring to Wirral. Community Shop will support local people in the area, whilst having a positive impact on the environment by tackling food waste. At the moment it’s more important than ever to be helping those going through challenging times, and we want Community Shop Beechwood to be a pillar of support for those who need it.

“We would really encourage eligible individuals and families to sign up as soon as they can, so that they can immediately benefit from the provision in store.”

Sandy Livingstone, Executive Director of Property at Onward, said:

“Onward stives to make a positive difference in the communities we serve. This is the third store we have opened with Community Shop in the North West. The health and wellbeing of our customers is important to us, we are partnering with Community Shop who offer good food at affordable prices, plus a wider range of services placed at the heart of the community.

“We have a long-term commitment to working for and supporting the community on the Wirral and in Beechwood and Ballantyne. It’s a pleasure to actively facilitate the opening of this new Wirral store.”