Add some charitable donations to your Christmas shopping trip (Picture: Sainsbury’s)

If, like us, you love the joy of browsing shelves but simply can’t justify buying anything else for yourself, rejoice.

Sainsbury’s is launching a magical popup shop that lets you fulfill your shopping cravings without filling up your cupboards with stuff you don’t need.

Oh, and it’ll let you do some good as well.

How, you may ask? Well, it’s all down to one simple concept: buying food and other goods for those who actually need the items, rather than for yourself.


The Giving Store, located in Covent Garden, will let people browse aisles and take their pick of what they fancy picking up, which they can then donate at the tills to people in need.



Not only do you get to enjoy the act of shopping, but you can also feel the joy of giving. Which is what Christmas is all about, right?

Sainsbury’s is urging parents to bring along their children to the store to teach them about the importance of thinking of others during the festive period.

Don’t worry, the experience won’t be like your average grocery shop. The Giving Store has special characters taking kids through the process of creating a Christmas dinner and discovering a snow-filled forest, up to the interactive donation containers where kids and parents can drop off their items.

To get in, adults will need to pay £5, which gets donated directly to a local food bank. Children go free.

Judith Batchelar, the director of Sainsbury’s Brand, said: ‘If every person doing their Christmas shopping this December donated one extra item – be that a can of soup or a roll-on deodorant – over 50 million products could be donated to those in need this festive season.

‘We want to do what we can to encourage shoppers to donate food and toys and do so in a way that teaches children the importance of helping others, particularly around the festive season’.

Nice idea, we think.

If you fancy popping along, the Sainsbury’s Giving Store is open from Thursday 5 December to Sunday 8 December, from 4pm to 8pm on Thursday then 11am to 8pm on all the other days.

It’s right in the heart of central London, at 11 Short Gardens, WC2H 9AT, so you can easily tag on a visit when you go to look at the Christmas lights.

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