Nourished for Nil has set up a second social supermarket in the Hawkes Bay after the success of one in Napier that opened in 2023. Photo: RNZ/Sally Round
A new social supermarket has opened its doors to Hastings families struggling to cover the cost of groceries.
The social supermarket enables people, who are referred by social agencies and allocated a certain number of points, to spend their points at the store.
Nourished for Nil founder Christina McBeth, who opened such a supermarket in Napier in September 2023, told Checkpoint Hastings residents were travelling to Napier to access the food.
Unlike at a food bank, shoppers can choose what they like with every item holding a points price so that at the checkout, shoppers pay with their points credits.
McBeth said it made sense to open a second social supermarket in Hastings to service the city.
"You're also dealing with people who are suffering hardship - you don't want to also make them spend extra petrol to get over to Napier so that's why Hastings has come up."
She said food hardship had been noticeable since the Covid pandemic and it was worse in Hawke's Bay after Cyclone Gabrielle.
"A lot of people are having to make some tough choices and we feel if we can help out, albeit in some small way to provide another avenue for food support - the social supermarkets really seem to tick that box."
McBeth said the difference between the social supermarket and a food bank was that what goes into food parcels was decided by the staff, rather than by the person who needed the food.
"At the supermarket, people can go 'hey, I have a certain amount of points I can spend - I can walk through here. I've got that choice. And with that comes a lot of dignity I think for people."
Christina McBeth, the founder of Nourished For Nil. Photo: Supplied
A family of three - a single parent and two children - is allocated 65 points which translates to about $30.
The family pays the $30 and collects a trolley which has a built-in calculator.
"They make their way through the store and the items have a point value instead of dollar.
"And the point value is on the shelf so if you're coming up to your Weetbix it might say two points."
Meat might be three or four points.
The customer adds the points as they shop and at the checkout, the items are scanned for re-ordering purposes before being packed.
"$35 will generally buy you about $150 worth of food."
McBeth said the cost of the food is heavily subsidised by Nourished for Nil and Foodstuffs, owner of New World and Pak'nSave, a partner in the project.
Initially Nourished for Nil had "squirrelled away" funding from the government to set up such a supermarket but now the charity needed private funding and from councils and lotteries.
So far she said the feedback had been good.
"They love it. It's quite an emotional experience for many people because the people we're targeting are the ones are really struggling and generally finding themselves in crisis that's pretty new or unusual for them.
"There's a lot of emotion and there's a lot of gratitude."
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