East of England Co-op has been recognised in a number of categories at the 2025 Retail Industry Awards.
At a ceremony at the Royal Lancaster, London, the co-op was named Community Retailer of the Year (multiple), in recognition of its commitment to supporting over 700 charities and community projects across its trading area through its four core community programmes: Community Cares Fund grants, Local Giving, Small Donations and In-branch Hosting.
The retail society has contributed over £1m through its community programmes – and recently released £115,000 to 32 local causes as part of its Community Cares Fund. The Community Cares Fund alone has helped support over 146,000 local people.
“It has been an honour to work with compassionate people from a variety of charities and community projects over the past 18 months through our community programmes,” said Angela Carpenter, community support lead for the society. “They have inspired and motivated me to work relentlessly hard to generate funding as well as enthusiasm to support their worthy causes.
“It was fantastic to accept the award and reflect on the effort that has been invested by our team to achieve the results that have secured this award. It’s a great feeling.”
The organisation also had its pioneering work with Retail Insight recognised through the award for Best Use of Technology (multiple). The initiative uses AI to reduce food waste across its food business and has saved 1.8 million meals from going to landfill, helping the co-op achieve its goals on sustainability.
“Our co-op is focused on improving efficiency across the business in order to provide a better service to our members and customers,” said Andy Rigby, East of England CEO. “It has been wonderful to have our technological advances recognised as reducing food waste is an important goal for our business. I’m proud of everyone involved in this impressive project.
“Community work also has a key role in our co-op. Many of our stores are based in the heart of communities and that is why we feel it is important to contribute to local charities and community projects. We want to give something back, and we know that many of our customers do as well.”
Midcounties Co-op was highly commended in the Community Retailer of the Year and Most Sustainable Retailer Initiative of the Year categories.
