Harvest
This shop ticks a lot of boxes for me - local food, refillables, a co-operative and part of the local economy.
Nick Newport
Origin
Harvest shop bottom of Walcot Street, Bath
Harvest opened in June 1971 so this is our 52nd year. The shop was originally owned by a green grocer called Mr Ham! A group of people came together to take over the shop and they grew and sold their own food. I suppose there was a bit of ‘back to the earth’ going on then.
By 1983 Harvest had converted to a workers’ co-operative.
We still are Harvest, but now we're part of a larger cooperative. In 1991 Harvest merged with a Bristol based wholesaler, also a co-operative, that manufactured and distributed whole foods. Together they took on the name Essential Trading.
There is a warehouse in Bristol where the Essential Trading products are manufactured and distributed to a number of places in the SW and SE and further North. If you're in a whole food shop somewhere and you see a packet with the Essential logo on it, it has come from our warehouse.
There's also another Harvest shop in Bristol. The shops are like little separate islands. We're almost satellites of the Essential manufacturing and distribution warehouse.
We grew organically
Our focus is Whole Foods i.e. vegetarian and vegan, but we respond to what our customers are buying. We do sell organic eggs and occasionally a few other things with dairy in, but most of our stock is vegan. Essential, as a wholesaler, deals with more dairy products.
We try to source items that are organic and fair trade. We use local suppliers, local growers and local producers as much as possible. We're determined to do things in a sustainable and ethical way. Ethical is the big word with Essential. It's all about doing it properly and making sure people are rewarded and not being exploited. Certainly, we're a business and profitability will always be a factor, but we try to do it in a non-corporate way. If there are certain producers or suppliers who we feel don’t operate in an ethical way, we won’t sell their products.
When this shop was initially set up all those years ago, the idea was that you could come in and do all your shopping here. You could get everything you need. We try to keep to that principle. That's why we've always sold bread and we have frozen stock, chilled stock and lots of refills. Over the years there have been certain things that may be a bit of a loss-leader but that changes over time.
The deli section is very popular. We make hot food and sandwiches every day. Lunch times are always busy. We do teas, coffees, savouries, little sweet treats, and cakes as well.
Self service herbs and spices
What’s more we are a Refill Heaven! Refill saves packaging cost, avoids using plastics, encourages sustainability and gives the customer choice about quantity. It is a big thing now. As far back as I can remember, we have had refillable bulk goods such as cereals, pulses, nuts. We also have cleaning materials, all the herbs and spices and things like that. Not to blow our own trumpet but we were doing that years before any such ideas broke through to the mainstream. In fact, when the shop first started back in 1971, it was essentially open sacks of grains and such where you could come and serve yourself!
The majority of our herbs and spices do come from abroad. But again, we try to source them as ethically as possible. We try to keep down air miles but some things just cannot grow here.
We are in it together
Altogether the workers’ cooperative has somewhere in the region of about 100 to 120 members. Plus, we have permanent staff, who work for us but aren't members.
Basically, all the members have a say in what we do as a cooperative, what we stock, how we go about sourcing the material and equipment, what things we manufacture. There are different departments but we have a general meeting together four times a year where we discuss any proposals. We have a management committee made up of co-operative members. who change every couple of years. The committee deals with any immediate issues to do with running the business.
So that's the larger co-operative, while here in the shop, for example, our five co-op members have a weekly staff meeting. We discuss things like: should we stock this item? Is this item selling? What other things can we do around the shop? We all have a say. It can slow the process down a little bit, but when people feel that they have a stake in the decisions that are being made it seems to work better. There are plenty of other cooperatives around so it's obviously a way of doing things that works for many people.
We’re all paid a set rate depending on length of service. I think a big thing about the co-operative is that the person I speak to on the phone who works in distribution is on the same salary scale as I am here in the shop. And I know that the person working in HR or the person working in IT are on that same scale. Even the management committee are paid under the same arrangements as everyone else.
I started off working part time here for a few years and I've been full time about 8 to 10 years. I don't think I could go back to working in a traditional management structure. Working here, you feel involved and because you're involved, you take a bit more pride and are more interested in the outcome. You're not just being told what to do. Basically, we all want things to work as well as possible because we're all part of that same team and we all contribute.
There are challenges
Covid really knocked us out. It impacted our sales even though as key workers, food retailers, we stayed open all the time. Our revenue dipped right down and we're still not in the position we were prior to Covid. But luckily things are picking up again and the shops have been supported by the cooperative as a whole.
In the last 5 to 10 years, the idea of vegetarianism and particularly veganism has become a lot more mainstream. There are more vegans and vegetarians out there than ever before. That market, which we'd been toiling away in for years, began to expand and supermarkets and other businesses picked up on this. Big supermarkets have economies of scale, they have more buying power and so they can discount more. That never used to be an issue. Though to be fair, a lot of our customers are happy to support smaller, local independent businesses. That's part of why they decide to shop here.
And the other challenge is the cost-of-living crisis, just the price of food. Certain foods skyrocketed – nuts, some grains. All the horrible stuff that's going on in Ukraine is having an effect as well, because Ukraine was a big producer of a lot of grains. So, the availability and price of many types of food is a challenge at the moment.
Independent shops
Independent shops are important in terms of variety. We're providing an outlet for small traders, producers and growers to sell their goods. The world is getting to a point now, where a handful of corporations pretty much own everything, including food products. If you don't have independent traders doing something slightly differently, selling alternatives and approaching it slightly differently, all you're going to have is uniformity.
For independent traders, it's a way of feeling empowered, a way of actually doing something yourself with other like-minded people. It's about doing things ethically and not about money being the bottom line. Doing things the right way. I know that we're all businesses and we need to turn a profit to keep going, but it shouldn't all be about the bottom line.
In addition, buying from independent businesses who also source as much as possible from local suppliers keeps money circulating in the local economy.
A community place
A lot of people, including some of my colleagues, grew up coming into the shop with their parents. I shopped here for a good ten years before I started working here. We've got regular customers who've been coming in for decades.
I hope that comes across in our customer service and our relationship with the customers. We try to be just a bit more friendly and open and welcoming and helpful than perhaps more corporate businesses.
Throughout my life, Walcot Street has been the more Bohemian part of Bath and it has always attracted businesses like ours. We definitely feel a kinship with other Walcot Street shops and traders. We're all slightly out of the mainstream, I guess. We're an alternative to the mainstream.
As you walk up the ramp into the shop there is a huge notice board covered in leaflets and advertisements brought in by local people – offering help, events, information and lots more. It changes constantly. It is a source of information about what is happening in the community. It brings people together.
February 2023
Harvest is at 37, Walcot Street, Bath BA1 5BN
Harvest’s website is at harvest-bath.coop