Company Shop Darlington Celebrates 1st Birthday

The UK’s leading redistribution supermarket, Company Shop, celebrated the first birthday of its Darlington store today (4th February), which has so far helped its members to collectively save over £3.6m.

Since the store opened on Haughton Road in February last year, it has also redistributed more than 1600 tonnes of surplus food and household products which otherwise may have needlessly gone to waste.

Colleague and members came together in-store to celebrate these achievements with birthday cakes and refreshments, and a range of exclusive birthday deals.

All the products sold in Company Shop are in date and perfectly good to eat, use or wear, but were obtained from major retailers and manufacturers after being deemed surplus for issues like seasonal packaging or overstock. As a result, they’re sold for typically 50% less than their normal retail price.

The store operates on a membership basis and is open to employees and pension recipients of the NHS, emergency services, social care, FMCG supply chain, British Armed Forces, prison services, as well as those in receipt of means-tested benefits. This was also recently expanded to include employees and volunteers from registered charities. Anyone eligible for membership is encouraged to sign up for free online, and once registered, membership lasts a lifetime.

“Company Shop is about more than just savings though – by working with local businesses to ensure perfectly good surplus food reaches people’s plates, we’re making a real positive impact on the environment by reducing needless waste.” Company Shop Darlington Store Manager, Chris Neil