Shop & Drop
For people who find it difficult to get to the shop, we help subsidise a Shop & Drop service from Chorlton Bike Deliveries co-operative.
For enquiries about any of the things below, drop us a line to office@unicorn-grocery.coop
Donations & publicity
We are proud to be a hub in our community, and want to support the great activities going on around us. If you are organising a fundraiser or other community event within the area we serve, we might be able to help you out with a donation of produce, a goody bag of shopping or some gift vouchers to raffle. This is in addition to our 1% fund, from which we can make more substantial donations to co-operatives, community groups and activist movements. If you’d like to request an in-kind donation drop us an email including your organization’s name, address, the date & time of event, what it’s for, the approximate attendance, and contact information. Please get in touch at least 4 weeks in advance of your event.
We may also be able to publicise your event on social media or on the boards in the shop. This is also true for local likeminded campaigns and community projects. We can’t promise as it depends on staff time and noticeboard capacity, but if you’d like us to try and do this, please include a request for this in your email. Don’t forget, we also have a customer noticeboard by the tills that is open to all – just pop up your flier (A5 or smaller).
Talks & presentations
We are keen to spread the word about co-operative ownership and alternative business models, and from time to time are able to attend meetings or events to talk about the business. As not that many of us are keen public speakers, we are limited in terms of how many we can commit to, but it’s worth an ask!
Each year we are invited by the business departments of both Manchester and Liverpool Universities to talk to business and retail marketing students about our model. We’re keen for students with an interest in business and enterprise to leave university knowing that there are progressive alternatives out there.
Schools & placements
For many years we welcomed educational visits from local schools to our shop. In recent years space constraints have made this a less enjoyable experience, so we now fund a number of primary school visits to Hulme Community Garden Centre each year, where they’ve got bags of indoor and outdoor space. Their lovely staff introduce kids to plant propagation and organic food growing, bugs & bees, eating & health (of us and the soil), and loads more. Contact the centre directly to enquire about this by emailing Kath Gavin – kath@hulmegardencentre.org.uk
For year 10 pupils we also offer a one week school placement, taking place in late spring and early summer. We prioritise a local catchment area comprising of Chorlton High, Stretford Grammar & Whalley Range High. We tend to accept four pupils per year, although we are sometimes able to stretch this. Our work placements offer an insight into the world of work and working with the public. As we’re a customer-facing business, it’s a good way for students to understand the importance of things like timekeeping and self-management – like being in the right place at the right time for shop-floor shifts or the various training sessions they’ll be offered. We take pupils through many of the ‘behind the scenes‘ functions at Unicorn and they also undertake practical work within shop floor teams – if you’ve ever seen a teenager re-stocking the veg, that will be why! We also walk our placements through Unicorn’s history, covering milestones and important decisions that have shaped the business. We enjoy having the opportunity to provide an insight into co-operative values and practices. School placements are generally run by the participating school, but pupils can also contact us directly.
Grow a Grocery
We are keen to offer support to others who want to establish or scale up co-operatively-owned groceries and shops. Head to our dedicated Grow a Grocery page to see if we can inspire you!
For enquiries about any of the above, drop us a line to office@unicorn-grocery.coop
