How a small zero-waste firm in Bury has been affected by customers’ changing shopping habits

The cost of living crisis has been affecting small businesses and many are facing the prospect of closing their doors or reducing their hours as we head towards winter.

Village Greens Community Co-op in Prestwich has reduced its staff numbers and seen a fall in the number of items customers are able to afford as a result of rising bills and prices.

Chris Williams, the manager of Village Greens said: “The places where we [have seen] reductions in sales isn’t the specialist items that we stock, it isn’t the zero-waste items, [it’s] tins of beans which someone could sub out quite easily for value range.

“It’s just a matter of people realising that if they don’t use us for the other things, then we might not be here.”

Click here to learn more about Village Greens.