About Us
Our Founding Story
Bloom Market is a low cost fresh produce community shop project from StreetBox London CIC, working in partnership with two other Hackney based food aid organisations.
The Bloom Market idea came from Chris, the Chief Banana behind StreetBox, which was set up in 2020 as a response to the pandemic and the rising cost of living crisis.
Over the last four years, StreetBox CIC has successfully sourced surplus fresh fruit and veg from New Spitalfields wholesale market in Leyton and a number of local growers in the Lea Valley. This is fresh produce that’s less likely to be sold and used and at risk of being dumped. Just too wonky, just the ‘wrong’ size or just simply too much of it around, so saving it from going to waste. Then for every box sold, we are able to source and distribute the same (or more!) fresh surplus produce to local emergency food organisations at no cost.
Drawing on examples of community base veg box schemes, shops and pay as you can models, the idea of Bloom Market was formed. Local initiatives run by locals, for the local community, Bloom Market is built on collaboration between like minded organisations to work together to tackle everyday issues around food insecurity.
Bloom Market will create localised food marketplaces for great fresh produce. Run by locals for locals at affordable, value for money prices, it’s hoped this will help bring more connections between immediate neighbours, as well as being a low-priced source of healthy fresh food. Bloom Market will be run by Idia’s Community Kitchen at Fellowes Centre, Homerton, Woodberry Aid close to Manor House and StreetBox at Stamford Hill.
Using cash and voucher payments, Bloom Market will aim to establish a community market place and economy for fresh, healthy fresh produce, that could build into a self-supporting business. With a predominantly cash first approach, the Bloom Market Community Shops could become sufficiently self-funding enough to start buying other food produce to sell.
