The People's Supermarket is a

community interest company A community interest company (CIC, pronounced "see-eye-see", or colloquially, "kick") is a form of social enterprise in the United Kingdom intended "for people wishing to establish businesses which trade with a social purpose..., or to carry on ...

whose stated aim is to provide the local community with good cheap food that is fair to consumers and producers. It was founded in May 2010 by Arthur Potts Dawson with regeneration advisor/entrepreneur David Barrie and retail specialist Kate Wickes-Bull, supported by a team of supporters and professional advisors, in

Lamb's Conduit Street Lamb's Conduit Street is a street in Holborn in the West End of London, West End of London. The street takes its name from ''Lambs Conduit'', originally known as the ''Holborn Conduit'', a dam across a tributary of the River Fleet. Lamb's Cond ...

Holborn Holborn ( or ), an area in central London, covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part (St Andrew Holborn (parish), St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Wards of the City of London, Ward of Farringdon Without i ...

, London, England, near

Great Ormond Street Hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital (informally GOSH, formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, and a part of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS F ...

. it had 1000 members. Based upon the concept of the food co-operative and inspired in part by the Park Slope Food Coop in the

Park Slope Park Slope is a neighborhood in South Brooklyn, New York City, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Prospect Park and Eighth Avenue (Brooklyn), Prospect Park West to the east, ...

neighbourhood of

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, members of the

social enterprise A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners. Social enterprises ha ...

are required to pay a £25 annual fee and contribute four hours of their time every four weeks to working in the store. In return, members receive a 20% discount off their shopping in-store.

History

The People's Supermarket was opened May 2010, designed to enable healthy food to be supplied to an inner city urban community at affordable prices and inspired by peoples' willingness to exchange their time for other value. It was founded as a

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

and changed its legal status in September 2013 to a

. The supermarket provides the area of

, London, with a unique combination of grocery store, production kitchen and events, such as supper clubs. It formed part of and supported the development of

, which has featured the arrival of independent fashion shops and a branch of global brand J.Crew. For its innovative approach to food, community involvement and local development, the venture has won several awards, including Future Minds Award for Innovation (2011) and an Observer Ethical Award (2011). The venture was supported at start-up by many organisations, including the London Borough of Camden,

Esmée Fairbairn Foundation The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation is a registered charity founded in England in 1961. It is one of the larger independent grant-making foundations based in the UK, funding organisations which aim to improve the quality of life for people and communit ...

and Fredericks Foundation, private companies and many local people. In 2011, it was visited by

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

, as a flagship of the Big Society initiative.

Media

''The People's Supermarket'' was the subject of a four-episode February 2011

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

documentary series which followed chef and eco-restaurateur Arthur Potts Dawson's journey to launch a supermarket owned by its customers in order to compete with the UK's Big 4 Supermarkets. Founding members and local residents appear on the programmes. The series was produced by

Wall to Wall Media Wall to Wall Media, part of Warner Bros. Television Studios UK (formerly Shed Media Group), is a television production company that produces event specials and drama, factual entertainment, science and history programmes for broadcast by netw ...

. The People's Supermarket was discussed on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's ''

You and Yours ''You and Yours'' is a British radio consumer affairs programme, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and produced by BBC News. History ''You and Yours'' began broadcasting in October 1970, when its first presenter was Joan York. In the 1980s it briefly ra ...

'' on 15 July 2010. The story of its development and a detailed description of its operating and business model has been published by

Nesta Nesta (formerly NESTA, National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) is a British foundation, registered as a charity, which supports innovation. Nesta was originally funded by a £250 million endowment from the UK National Lotter ...

Episodes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:People's Supermarket, The 2011 British television series debuts 2011 British television series endings Business-related television series in the United Kingdom Channel 4 documentary series Food reality television series Food cooperatives in the United Kingdom Co-operatives in the United Kingdom

History

Media

Episodes

See also

References

External links