Community supermarket opens in shopping centre
Shoppers can access a wealth of budget-friendly groceries at the new social supermarket.
**Community supermarket opens in shopping centre**
Gina English from the SEK Community Food Shop in Chatham says the store is open to everyone
A new community supermarket, giving people access to affordable and healthy food, has opened in a Kent shopping centre.
Run by SEK Community Food Shop, the store has opened its doors to the public on the first floor of The Pentagon Centre in Chatham.
Gina English from SEK says the shop is open to all because "in addition to supporting people with food insecurity, people will also be able get wraparound support from us, help with employment, looking at CVs and interview skills. We're also going to help people with budgeting and money management and signposting to other local services".
The supermarket was initially funded by Medway Council through the Crisis and Resilience Fund.
Customers can simply walk into the social supermarket without booking ahead to buy a range of low-cost groceries, including a £1 fruit and vegetable bag.
Prices are kept down because the shop redistributes surplus food to cut waste, while also helping the environment.
SEK already runs two similar stores in Kent.
English said: "We've had Ramsgate for about three years, Ashford just for just over a year and across the two shops in the last year alone we saw 55,500 transactions and we were able to save 170 tonnes of perfectly good food from going to waste, so they do work."
Rod Taffs and Shirley Graves from Chatham were among the first customers into the newly opened community supermarket
Among the first to try the store were Shirley Graves and her partner Rod Taffs, who have already filled their basket with bargains.
"People want to come down and see what they've got, it's amazing," says Graves.
"I've got a box of 20 samosas for £1.50 and a big huge bag of chicken for £6. Times are quite tight at the moment, being pensioners, it's cheap and the chicken is amazing."
"That's going to do us three or four meals," adds Taffs.
Medway Council leader Vince Maple said: "I think most people across Kent and Medway would want to see food not going to waste, so the ability to have good quality food at a reasonable price, helping not just our families and individuals on low incomes but helping all families has got to be a good thing."
The shop also includes a confidential, soundproofed office pod at the back of the store where customers can get personal advice and guidance.
The SEK Community Food Shop in The Pentagon Centre, Chatham, is open Monday to Saturday between 10:00 and 18:00.