Needless to say, the very weirdest couple of years. The early days of the pandemic brought challenges we had never expected – being responsible for public health in a new, and honestly, quite frightening way. We also experienced proper panic buying for the first time; not just a phrase, the panic was really palpable, and… Read More »
2016-19
A turbulent and troubling few years for the UK; with Brexit trauma dragging on endlessly, the consequences of a decade of needless austerity becoming ever-more visible, and the twin ecological crises of biodiversity collapse and climate change becoming ever-more pressing. Unicorn marked the first ever Global Climate Strike by briefly downing tools on the day,… Read More »
2015
Food prep at Unicorn reached a milestone when we created a purpose-built kitchen for making our soups, salads and baked goods, which had previously been prepared in the cramped quarters behind the deli counter. The kitchen was part of a wider renovation project, in which we replaced the windows and leaking roof, insulated the… Read More »
2010
Despite global economic instability, sales rose 10% on the previous year. A growing feeling amongst the membership that our model was something special led us to create our Grow a Grocery guide, with lots of help and funding from Sustain and their Food Co-ops project. The guide walked potential grocers through all areas of… Read More »
2007
Sales growth had slowed right down after an intense few years, but there was plenty to do. We built our rooftop wildlife garden and pond and invested in 21 acres of prime growing land near Leigh, just under 14 miles by road from the shop. A new co-op was formed to establish a veg-growing… Read More »
2004
2004-5 saw a 50% growth in sales, way beyond anything we could have ever predicted. In response, membership doubled in two years, reaching 31 by 2005, and our governance and management structure was reorganised to accommodate the growing number of member-owners. Still no boss though! (well, that’s all of us).
