The People's Supermarket to expand

The member-owned retailer is looking at four locations in Cardiff, Newcastle, Truro and Hackney, London and has been approached by people who want it to enter Bristol, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The social enterprise will tomorrow unveil its Hackney site and launch a ‘Brick by Brick’ campaign to raise £1m to open a store and People’s Kitchen cafe on the site.

TPS Hackney will require 30 operational shop and kitchen staff and a further 700 volunteers per month. It is hoped the site will be open in time for the Olympic Games, also in East London.

This will be the first time TPS has opened a store outside its flagship Lamb’s Conduit Street in central London. The grocer is run by volunteers and members with a strong emphasis on ethical retailing.

TPS chief executive Kate Bull said: “People out there want us to come to their cities and be part of what we do. Those who are approaching us are people who do not have supermarkets locally because it does not fit with their demographic.

“TPS is a unique economic model that breaks most business norms; the People’s Supermarket has given its local community greater self determination and social empowerment and, in so doing, has created full time jobs, developed local partnerships and improved community cohesion.”

TPS revealed it approached two large supermarkets where it believed it could use its brand values to turn around underperforming stores but its requests were rejected.

It also plans to bring in an own brand food and technology range.