The Shop
Beanies is open seven days a week. The shop is bright, spacious and accessible, with a customer car park and toilet facilities.
Fresh and bursting with colour, the grocery offers organic and non-organic fruit and vegetables, with a huge range of seasonal and specialist produce. They have the biggest independent organic veg section in the region and they work closely with local organic growers to ensure the freshest produce every day.
All the stock is vegan or vegetarian and they prioritise organic and Fairtrade products. They have fresh bread and pastries every day alongside a huge selection of wholefoods, frozen and chilled produce, snacks and store-cupboard favourites.
The household and beauty section includes zero waste refills for home and body, bath and beauty products, eco-friendly cleaning, locally made scented candles, gifts, coffee gear, packed-lunch essentials and reusable alternatives to many household basics (straws, cotton swabs and more!). They also sell cards, traditional giftwrap and reusable alternatives.
They work closely with small suppliers and are proud stockists of some of the region’s most exciting new products, from vegan truffle bars to zero waste laundry liquid made in Yorkshire. They are always looking for new things to try, and they carefully test everything they stock to ensure its quality.
They run the longest-standing organic veg box scheme in the city, delivered around 700 fruit and veg boxes to Sheffield homes each week.
Friendly, helpful and much-loved in the community, Beanies is one of the city’s greatest success stories.
Their Values
From humble beginnings in Hillsborough, via a converted terrace in Walkley and on to the beautiful new premises at 1 Barber Road, Beanies has flourished. they’re a thriving collective that’s fundamentally about fairness. Fairness to animals, the environment, future generations and to the people here now: customers, workers and producers all over the world. No volunteers and no shareholders – a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work, and a fair price for everyone.
They carefully vet the ethical credentials of everything they stock, and they work hard to support local suppliers, resulting in lower miles and a healthier regional economy.
Plant based
Beanies is an entirely vegetarian shop. Anything you pick from the shelves here has been carefully checked for vegetarian standards, and most of the stock is vegan. All Beanies co-op members are vegetarian or vegan, and they’re always happy to offer advice and ideas if you need any help!
Organic
Organic produce is grown without the use of artificial fertilisers or pesticides. Organic is better for the environment because it leads to greater soil health and biodiversity. It’s better for you, because there’s a lower risk of chemical nasties making it to your plate. And because we handle this stuff day in day out, it’s very obvious to us that for freshness, variety, flavour and all-around goodness, organic produce can’t be beaten.
Beanies holds organic certification from the Soil Association. This is a rigorous accreditation process which guarantees that when you buy organic produce from them it has met the Soil Association organic standards.
Speciality Foods
Beanies stock a wide variety of exciting speciality foods that you won’t find anywhere else in Sheffield. They sell many alternative food products for people with dairy, gluten and wheat intolerances as well as other specialist diets.
They also carry a range of unusual ingredients such as vital wheat gluten, coconut aminos, rice flour, different rices, grains, flour and spices!
Worker’s Co-Operative
Beanies is a registered Workers Co-operative. This means that they are owned and run by the members. They are all responsible for the business and they all have an equal voice.
The shop is their livelihood – and they all care passionately about providing the best possible service and value to the customers.
All the full time staff are company directors. They share the risks, responsibilities and management of the business equally. They meet regularly to make decisions together. As they have grown their members have become more specialised, with different areas of expertise. These roles are all equally important and they all get paid the same rate.
They are proud to be a co-op. The way that they run the business reflects the business itself – with ethical, social and environmental issues at the heart. Co-ops are resilient, dynamic and fulfilling places to work. Over the last few years, the things they have achieved have really highlighted how effective co-operative working can be. They have moved to a brand new premises after 30+ years, grown their veg box and grocery delivery scheme, and responded successfully to the Covid-19 crisis.
Recycling
Beanies recycle everything they can including paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and Tetra Pak.
Who we work with
Beanies is an important part of the Sheffield food ecosystem.
We all know about the enormous amount of wastage that occurs across the food supply chain, from fresh produce being discarded because it’s slightly misshapen to supermarkets sending perfectly usable “out of date” food to landfill.
To minimise their food waste, Beanies work with a number of brilliant Sheffield-based social enterprises: Foodhall, The Archer Project, The Food Works, and Open Kitchen Social Club.
In September 2021, Beanies staff members ran the Sheffield half marathon, raising over £1500 for the Refugee Council Allotment in Roe Woods.
