A NEW membership-only superstore which will sell and distribute surplus food and household products is to be opened next week.

Company Shop, the UK’s largest redistributor of surplus food and products, is opening the doors of a new flagship store on the Lancots Lane Industrial Estate in Sutton Fold on Monday, January 22.

The event will be attended by representatives from Company Shop, the MP for St Helens South and Whiston Marie Rimmer, and local political and industry stakeholders.

The new store has created 30 full-time jobs, and 50 across the region.

The planning application for the shop, which was approved by St Helens Council, stated that there are four Company Shop stores in the country in Corby, Grimsby, Wentworth and Middleton, with a number of new premises planned over the next 18 months.

Company Shop, and its social enterprise, Community Shop, work with major retailers, manufacturers and brands across the country to stop more than 50 million items of good food and household products going to waste each year.

Surplus in the supply chain is created for a wide range of reasons – including a wonky label, incorrect weight on a product, a short shelf life remaining on the stock, seasonal packaging or an incomplete batch. Company Shop says with "a thriving food and manufacturing sector in the North West", there was a "clear need for a new redistribution solution for businesses in the region, to enable them to tackle their surpluses sustainably and prevent them from going to waste".

They add the shop store will stock "good food and household products at approximately a third of the normal retail price from the full range of Company Shop’s industry partners, including Waitrose, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Aldi, Ocado, Morrisons, Iceland, Nestle, Heinz and Muller".

Company Shop is a membership-only store, with membership open to people who work in food manufacturing, the emergency services or the NHS.

Membership is limited in line with the contracts that are in place with retailers and manufacturers and because of the fluctuating nature of the stock Company Shop receives.

Company Shop says there are also plans to deliver up to five Community Shops, which is the business’ social enterprise serving deprived communities, in the region over the next two to three years.