Creating a Community Space at Asda Small Heath: A Journey of Discovery
By Rickie Josen and Annette Holman
As part of our work on ‘Unlocking Social Opportunities in Shops’ we worked with Asda in Small Heath, Birmingham transforming the former opticians in store into a vibrant community space. Here, we share the learnings from our trial that ran between September to December 2024.
The Set Up
We started with community engagement, for the first 3-4 weeks of the trial, we occupied the space to learn what the community wanted from the space. We mainly gathered input by stopping shoppers as they passed by and placing an ideas box at the entrance.
Originally, shoppers expressed a strong desire for a cosy spot to enjoy tea, while also seeking activities such as yoga, children’s activities, and job advice. Previously, the space formed part of the much-missed cafe.
We also spend time engaging with local VCFSE organisations and public sector contacts across the council and NHS identifying what and how they may wish to use the space to engage with the local community.
The first stage of the transformation was making the space more appealing and welcoming. As this was a disused space in the supermarket since the opticians closed, we found it was taken out of the cleaning rota and often used for storing leftover stock, making it less than inviting for people to come into!
Thanks to the efforts of the store Community Champion and other local Community Champions, we cleared and cleaned the area, put up a community chalk board and made the place as inviting as possible with chairs, plants, signage and decorations.
The activity
Over the following 8 weeks, we put on a variety of events by charities and community organisations as well as by facilitators we paid to deliver a health and wellbeing session.
- One of the best attended events was the jobs and employment morning we ran with a local charity.
- The slow cooker demonstrations proved to be very popular with customers and staff which ran in a mid afternoon slot.
- An energy advice session run by experts from Citizens Advice was well attended despite no previous publicity, with the hope of it being a regular slot in the supermarket in the future.
- Three craft sessions grew in popularity over the 3 weeks offering different activities each time.
- Coffee mornings offering hot drinks and space to sit and chat offered customers a welcome short break during their shop.
- A clothes swap on a Sunday, which was an existing initiative run in the community, had some traction as it enabled trials to run at weekends to engage with different customer patterns.
- Some activities, such as present wrapping proved less popular as an event though it was an idea put forward during our engagement.



Reach and response
People who attended events or popped in were mostly shoppers but also some staff members. Some notable highlights:
- One local, who came to every event, who heard about it from the local councillor. They enjoyed the opportunity to take part and connect with other people in the community. ‘It was a really great experience to learn and take apart in different community activities with the community and do things together’
- Councillor Shabina Bano also popped in unannounced and took photos before promoting it widely on their networks.
- One person travelled from further afield after seeing the slow cooker and craft events promoted on a notice board at their local community centre.
- A staff member heard about the events from a friend who saw a poster we’d sent out at their local slimming club.
- Staff were interested to engage with sessions including the yoga and slow cooker sessions showing in store community opportunities can benefit staff as well as customers. Insights from staff recognised ‘It’s a good idea that there is space to go to that gives out essential information’ as well as ‘a space to meet and greet people who could become a long term acquaintance.’
Learnings
Of course with all new ideas there were challenges along the way that we learnt from:
- The community area was cold, especially in winter as it is situated near the store entrance door. This meant that spending a long period of time in space was challenging without warm clothes so shorter engagement options seemed to be preferred. This is an important aspect for supermarkets to address when looking at spaces to utilise and for what purpose.
- While we initiated events based on foot traffic patterns, we learned the importance of catering to different community schedules and that a quieter time in store may also be a time that customers may want to stop and engage.
- The importance of store manager buy-in and understanding of how and why the space is being is key to start any trials. This also helps with sharing and engaging with the store staff to understand the concept and how they can contribute to advertising the sessions and also benefit from attending them.
- Our marketing strategy relied heavily on internal posters, community newsletters, and outreach through local organisations as well as some strategic connections such as the local councillor. However, there is a great opportunity to utilise communication channels internally though supermarkets own comms channels and staff connections and word-of-mouth.
Our learning shows that future initiatives will need to have clearer-defined processes for support and resources, ensuring a welcoming environment is created. There is a much greater scope to engage organisations, customers and staff though developing community areas in a range of spaces supermarkets have to offer.
We are optimistic about enhancing this space and truly serving our local community’s needs. It is heartening to learn that the Community Champion feels ‘the space has been a huge success’ and they will strive to continue to keep it running as a community space.
By fostering connections and providing a warm, inviting area, we can create a hub that benefits both the community and the store proving there is a significant opportunity for community spaces in supermarkets to thrive.
For more information on this programme please email annette@neighbourlylab.com