Last Saturday I had the pleasure of visiting one of my favourite shops – the Unicorn grocer’s in Chorlton. I was delighted to find they were celebrating their 15th birthday.
Why get excited about a grocer’s you may ask? Well the Unicorn is unique. It has a very strong identity and people from miles around come to shop there.
Building Success on Sound Ethical Values
The Unicorn is fantastically thought out and sticks to its ethos: secure employment, equal opportunity, wholesome healthy consumption, fair and sustainable trade and solidarity in co-operation. It’s so ‘right on’ (English slang for forward thinking, fashionable ideas) I just love it.
It’s a co-operative, it supplies from local sources where possible, and where not, products are fairly traded. Products are organic where possible. The prices are good and competitive so it’s not just for the privileged few. It is vegan – so no dairy or meat products – it supplies goods that are wheat free, suitable for diabetics and so on. And, on the whole the food is really good and great value. They even have a play area for kids – a great help for tired out parents.
Raising Finance
I’ve been shopping at the Unicorn for about 11 years. When I first started going they occupied the back part of a building and were pretty hard to find. In fact I wouldn’t have known they were there unless someone had told me.
Anyway, an opportunity for them to expand came up and they needed to raise the finance – but instead of raising it from a bank they raised it from their customers. They offered bonds with a guaranteed return and would buy them back after a specified period. I can’t exactly remember the terms but it was along those lines. They got their money (which speaks volumes), expanded and made their shop easy to find and a really pleasant place to go.
Happy Birthday Unicorn! Long may you supply us with ethically sound grocery goodies.
2012 International Year of Co-operatives
As the Unicorn is a co-operative it seems a good time to mention that The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2012 as the International Year of Co-operatives.
And on a slightly different note check out Business Bites for Turning Complaints Around. See you next week!
