New 'social supermarket' in Slough aims to tackle hunger and food waste

A new ‘social supermarket’ has opened in Slough with a commitment to tackle landfill waste and support members of the community in need.

NotJUST a Store, located in Westgate Retail Park next to Currys and Greggs, had its full launch last weekend (November 25) following a soft launch earlier in the month.  

The shop offers produce that would otherwise have been destined for landfill at discounted rates as well as operating community fridges and freezers.

NotJUST, a non-profit organisation founded in 2015, also operates a store in Telford and plans to open a café in Andover with outreach for the homeless community.

Alice Bathie, a manager at the Slough branch, said the weekend store opening had gone ‘really well’ and the team were ‘excited to see’ how many more people would shop there and how many could be helped.

Described as a 'social supermarket' on its website, the community fridges and freezers at NotJUST a Store allow members of the public in need to pick up items for free but also operates a donation scheme.

Shoppers can make a donation as little or as large as they want for products with larger contributions helping to ‘pay forward’ for those who could otherwise not afford to pay.

Alice said the store was already ‘tied in’ with Slough Poverty Forum and discussed how the store operates to assist those requiring it’s services.

She said: “Whenever someone is in severe crisis they get referred to us so that they can grab some things from our community fridges and freezers and maybe grab a couple of essential bits around the store.

"When people shop with us they're funding us being able to do direct good in the country."

NotJUST helps operate other foodbanks in the UK but Alice said the Slough branch was still ‘figuring out what’s needed’ in the area, having only just opened.

“There are over 70 community groups in Slough, it’s absolutely insane, I've never seen such a community-minded place before - It's really lovely,” said Alice.

“We’ve done some networking and a lot of people are already being referred to us.

“We know that there's quite a few food banks based around Maidenhead and Slough and we're just figuring out what’s needed.”

The store currently has a surplus of hand sanitiser available free of charge - a far cry from the days of COVID.

Alice said the Slough store had 20 pallets of which boxes were available for anyone including groups such as schools and other community organisations.

The Slough store is open 9.30am till 5.30pm, Monday to Friday, and between 10am and 3pm on weekends.

You can find out more information about the store and NotJUST here and via its Facebook page.