The Surplus Supermarket in St Helens (Image: Liverpool ECHO)
The Surplus Supermarket, often referred to as ‘the of supermarkets’, is a vast warehouse located on an industrial estate where smart shoppers can purchase food, household essentials and alcohol at significantly reduced prices.
Although customers typically need a membership to access these deals, editor Emilia Bona was invited to the St Helens store for an inside look at how it operates.
Membership to The Surplus Supermarket is granted to those working in frontline services or receiving certain benefits. With many items discounted by up to 50% compared to other , the store not only helps reduce landfill waste but also supports at risk of in-work poverty.
Upon arrival, the store appeared like any other supermarket – there were no bargain bins to rummage through, no damaged stock, and everything was impeccably presented.
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Gemma said steaks are popular with Surplus Supermarket shoppers (Image: Liverpool ECHO)
Emilia said: “I was also struck by the sheer amount of fresh produce on offer, given that the shop is entirely stocked with surplus products that would otherwise have gone to waste. I had assumed that supermarkets wouldn’t get rid of fresh food that was well in date, but I learned there are a number of reasons that fresh products can end up at the store.”
Gemma Edlin, Head of Retail at Company Shop Group, revealed that items like sirloin steaks often arrive in the store due to seasonal promotions leaving supermarkets with unsold stock. She cited recent Valentine’s Day meal deal promotions as an example, which leave retailers with a surplus of fresh meat that needs to be sold off cheaply.
“We always sell a lot of chicken, they always sell really well. We sell quite a bit of steak. Cheese is another good seller but I think it’s because they’re quite expensive in the normal supermarkets.”
The staff fondly call the shop ‘the TK Maxx of supermarkets’ due to the unpredictable nature of what can be found in-store during each visit.
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Bread on sale for 40p in store (Image: Liverpool ECHO)
Gemma explained that these loaves are made from wasted bread used to make pre-packaged supermarket sandwiches. Instead of going to waste, The Surplus Supermarket repackages this food into fresh loaves of bread.
It was shocking to walk up and down the aisles, realising that without this initiative, the entire contents of this vast supermarket would have ended up in landfill.
Gemma revealed: “We say ‘don’t come with a shopping list because you won’t get everything you need’. If you come here first, stock up, then you can go to Aldi, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons, to get the rest of your stuff. But you’d be amazed at what you will find.”
On our arrival, Emilia spotted shelves filled with Dairylea Lunchers on sale for just 75p, and an entire aisle dedicated to Beetlejuice branded fizzy drinks from Halloween. Near the tills were loaves of bread packaged in plain blue bags, all on sale for 40p.
Broken M&S biscuits sold in 600g packs at the supermarket (Image: Liverpool ECHO)
She also highlighted how many items on sale had been repackaged for legal sale in UK stores, such as giant bags of broken biscuits from M&S, frozen McDonald’s hash browns and chips, and relabelled meat.
Gemma pointed out a ‘Wicked Kitchen’ noodle pot from Tesco, explaining: “This one we have relabelled because you’ll see the date on this is in a different format to what we have to have in compliance in the UK. This might have been destined for America so it’s got an American date stamp on it, and then it’s not gone so rather than put that in the bin, we will relabel it, say the date is wrong and it stops it going in the bin.
“We’ve worked with Heinz and if, for example, they’ve made beans and sausages and said it’s vegan but a mistake has happened in the factory, we take it, we label it, we say it might contain pork, and then we pop it on sale. We remain legal and compliant, so we don’t breach any rules, we don’t sell anything that’s out of date – everything has to be in date.”
The eclectic selection at Company Shop sees a variety of supermarket brands, such as Waitrose and McCain’s, sharing shelf space in the frozen section. Fresh meats and fish feature packaging from an array of different retailers too.
Not to mention, they offer a range of alcoholic beverages from canned lager to bottles of wine and spirits.
Gemma explained the shop’s unique approach: “How that works is say, for example, Tesco are selling a case of Magners and it gets damaged, they then can’t sell it because it’s not the correct weight that is stated on the product because there’s one missing. So they’d put that in the bin. But what we do is take it off their hands, we have a bottle wash facility at our head office and we clean the individual cans and sell them individually.”
Those eligible for Company Shop membership include individuals involved in the FMCG supply chain, NHS staff, care and emergency services personnel, social care workers, prison service employees, British Armed Forces members, charity workers and volunteers, as well as those receiving means-tested benefits.
Further information regarding membership benefits is available online.