With grocery prices on the rise seemingly across Canada, more and more people are having to find other ways to put food on the table, and more and more people are finding that those other ways are few and far between. One of the options in Brandon, relatively unique in Canada for now, is the Food Rescue Grocery Store.
“We are the cheapest grocery store in Canada,” said store manager Elizabeth Morrow. “We’re the only one of our kind, in fact. There are more and more people that come into our store every day that haven’t heard of us before but are almost in tears, crying that they found us because they can finally buy affordable food.”
Although being the only grocery store of its kind in Canada might be a point of pride, Morrow hopes more people will take up their business model and run with it, because the need for a store like theirs is evident in many other places.
“Our business model is no secret, we’re willing to share it with anybody who wants to listen,” Morrow said. “Our business model should be duplicated in all of rural Manitoba.”
According to Morrow, access to food in rural Manitoba can become incredibly difficult. Not only do people often have to travel to larger centers to get what they need, but when they arrive they’re met by the same rising prices that everyone else is dealing with.
“As soon as you leave those city limits, a lot of people forget that you exist, honestly,” said Morrow. “Rural food banks don’t have the same access or the same privilege as food banks that are in the city. They can’t apply for the same grants, they can’t apply for the same funding, it’s completely different. So the access to food is really hard. We noticed that, and we decided we needed to create another avenue for rural Manitoba, and Brandon, for people to access this food.”
The Food Rescue’s method of operation is not to get food from grocery stores but to get it directly from suppliers. Because grocery stores often already donate food to food banks, Morrow said they didn’t want to take food out of people’s mouths, so to speak.
“We get their excess and are able to offer that to the community through our store,” she said. “We also donate 30 to 40 percent of everything we rescue to other organizations, food banks, soup kitchens, and other community food programs including schools.”
The goal, according to Morrow, is to serve as a point in between a food bank and a big box store. People of all income levels can and do patronize the store, and the fact that everyone is welcome to shop their is the biggest message she wants to leave people with.
“It’s been a long time since people have been able to feel secure in their access to food at home,” Morrow said. “Our store is able to provide that for a lot of people… We’re here to help people get back on their feet, and we’re here so people have a place of dignity to shop at. We’re also here to help people are just down on their luck, but some of the richest people in Brandon shop here just to support us.”
