Community Shop, the UK’s first social supermarket, hosted Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Edinburgh today (15 January) at the Lambeth store. During  the visit,  The Duchess witnessed firsthand Community Shop’s transformative work tackling the root cause of food insecurity by providing members with a hand up, not a hand-out.

Community  Shop, the award-winning social enterprise arm of the UK’s leading surplus redistributor Company Shop Group, operates 13 stores nationwide supporting areas of social inequality in the UK. Through its unique model, Community Shop sells surplus products donated by food industry partners at a deeply discounted price, ensuring that products don’t needlessly go to waste, whilst simultaneously providing a sustainable support model for thousands of families each year.

The Duchess of Edinburgh is patron to over 70 charities and organisations focusing on food production, women’s empowerment, eye health and disability support. During the COVID-19 pandemic, The Duchess of Edinburgh volunteered with a number of local food banks and supported NHS care workers. During  today’s visit to Community Shop, Her Royal Highness participated in community activities, helped to serve the store’s “Feast Day” and toured the site whilst speaking to Community Shop team and members, and hearing the positive impact Community Shop has on them and the wider community.

During  a tour of Community Shop, The Duchess of Edinburgh explored the three interconnected spaces of the site: Community Store, Community Hub, and Community Kitchen. Community Stores provide members with a much-needed access to deeply discounted food and essentials, including fruit, vegetables and bread for only 20p. The profits from Community Store are reinvested into the Community Hub, which delivers holistic support programmes to empower individuals to develop their own capabilities and deliver a positive future for themselves. Additionally, each Community Shop features a Community Kitchen, a café that allows people to connect with others and learn through food, as well as providing home-cooked meals for the community with kids eating free every day. People join on a membership basis and is open to those on means-tested benefits and who live in the local area.

Since its inception in 2013, Community Shop has supported over 72,000 families with its sustainable model, that aims to improve peoples’ circumstances for the long-term. Within the interconnected spaces, Community Store has saved members over £50 million on shopping, whilst the Community Hubs have delivered more than 200,000 development programmes and Community Kitchens have fed over 880,000 children for free.

Executive Chairman of Community Shop, Gary Stott, said: “We are honoured to have  welcomed Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Edinburgh, to Community Shop Lambeth today. This Royal visit highlights the vital importance of our mission and is a real boost for the Community Shop team who work tirelessly to tackle food insecurity. Our Lambeth store provides a lifeline for the local community and we’re proud to have created a vibrant, welcoming space where people come to share stories, learn and eat together.”

Esther Dennis, Community Wellbeing Practitioner said: “The success of our model is evident in the numbers – over the past decade we’ve managed to save our local members over £6 million on their shopping in our Lambeth store enabling our community to support themselves and their families. Money raised in Community Shop Lambeth has been re-invested into delivering 12,000 development programmes for the local community. The Duchess of Edinburgh’s support today will help to amplify our message as we continue expanding our efforts to tackle food poverty in our local community and nationwide.”