Social Enterprise Case Study: The Village Green, Marsden’s Community Grocery
The Village Green, Marsden’s Community Grocery is a community benefit society located in a small village in West Yorkshire.
The cooperative’s main aim is to run the shop to ensure people in Marsden can shop locally and access good quality locally produced fruit, vegetables and other locally produced produce without the need to travel.
The Resilience Group, is the arm of the shop which manages the community benefit initiatives, has a separate board which works in partnership with the shop board and aims to support people in the community needing support with food provision. The group raises money from two sources, grants and customers/members who regularly donate to this fund. It has recently been set up as a separate entity to work together with the shop to identify families in need of support.
The driving force behind setting up the social enterprise was the need to maintain a greengrocer in Marsden. Planning for the shop started in 2018 when the small greengrocer they had in the village stopped trading. The idea for the store came from a group of volunteers who had been working in various community groups to promote sustainable living and ensure access to local food in Marsden. They realised that there was a need for a local grocery store that would provide fresh, local produce to the community. The aim was to create an affordable shop that met and responded to the needs of the local community, providing food that was not being met by any other food source in the village. The shop stocks vegetarian and vegan cooking items. They aim to work cooperatively with the other shops in the village. They also work ethically and promote sustainability and reduce plastic use.
The group faced several challenges while setting up the venture. The first challenge was to find a suitable location and building to house the shop. The group spent several months visiting different shops and examples of community ventures. The team worked hard to build support among different parts of the community and took advice from various support agencies. A shop was located on the main street of the village, owned by a local person, who was a supportive landlord.
In 2019, they registered a community benefit society and launched a community share offer to raise the funds needed to start the store. The share offer was a success, and the society raised £54,000 from 220 village residents and others. They also received additional support from the landlord who is a local builder, and he built a cold refrigerated storeroom at the back of the shop. The store opened in 2019 and has survived ever since, despite many challenges and the impact of the pandemic and the recession has had. The community benefit society has 420 shareholders/members, and they continue to communicate with them regularly. They listen to their views and rely on their support.
The society aims to support and promote locally grown produce, support the environment, and reduce the amount of produce flown into the UK. Over 70% of their products are sourced from the UK and many are grown in Yorkshire. The shop has four paid employees, including a manager and assistant manager, who both work part-time, and two other employees, one who works 10 and the other 4 hours a week. The rest of the workforce is made up of volunteers, including young people and a range of people, including retired individuals from the local community. The enterprise also provides training and support to young people, and many of them have progressed from cleaning toilets and sweeping floors to being competent in having all the skills for running the shop.
It has been a lot of work, but the shop is having a positive impact on the village and the lives of the people in it. One of the keys to the success of the store has been the passion and dedication of its members. Many of the volunteers who helped start the store are still involved in its day-to-day operations, and they have been successful in recruiting new members who share the passion for local and sustainable food.
However, The Village Green faces challenges. Recruitment of new members with the necessary skills to run the store can be difficult, and the pandemic and cost of living crisis have made it harder to attract new customers. The society has been successful in promoting community cohesion and addressing social issues. However, they face ongoing challenges in maintaining operations and keeping prices affordable while ensuring sustainability and fairness for suppliers and employees.
The society has learned over time how to develop a system that works but they are still not at a place where they think they have got it right yet. They recognise that it involves a completely different level of business management compared to what was imagined when they think about a community shop. The society has set up a whole system that is easy for people to access, which includes issuing food vouchers that can be spent in the shop. They are also constantly looking for ways to improve the system, and they are always open to feedback from the community to make sure that they are meeting its needs.
According to Sheila Bates and Fiona Russell, Founder members and Board members “The most satisfying part of the enterprise is the impact it has on the community. The voucher scheme allows people to buy basic necessities that they would otherwise not be able to afford, and the enterprise provides a space for people to interact and build relationships.”
With the recently launched Kirklees Social Enterprise Competition we’re looking for new ideas and businesses like The Village Green to achieve our ambition to make Kirklees into a social enterprise place.
To find out more about how you could make your ideas for a hospitality social enterprise a reality visit the TSL Kirklees website or contact helen@tslkirklees.org.uk.