Nowadays, many people struggle to make ends meet. To meet their needs, the association Dialogues opened its first social grocery store in 2004 in the Nice-Est district. This initiative has allowed many families in difficulty to do their shopping at a lower cost. In this grocery store, the products are sold at 10% of the real value of a supermarket. Stéphanie Bouloc, the director of the Dialogues association, explains the conditions that must be met to access it: “people in difficulty must go to meet their social worker. If during this interview she diagnoses that the family or household is in difficulty, she will suggest guiding them towards the food assistance system represented by the Dialogues association through a social grocery store.” The person must then justify their financial resources and indicate their place of residence. Only people residing in the specific district can purchase products in the social grocery store. “During an interview with a reception agent, it will be validated if the household meets the association’s criteria. If this is the case, the person will pay a 5-euro entry fee and a monthly solidarity contribution that will correspond to their specific situation.”
47 people have benefited from the integration project since 2007
“In addition to being a social grocery store, we are also an integration project,” states Stéphanie Bouloc. The Dialogues association aims to recruit twelve people per year through subsidized contracts lasting six months. These individuals are trained in the grocery business and then assisted towards stable and lasting employment. They can apply for positions such as receptionist, self-service employee, reception or administrative agent, and supply personnel.
The social grocery store is a place for interaction and social bonding. Its mission is to fight against exclusion. It benefits from the participation of the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) as part of the program “solidary and sustainable territorial development of the lower Var valley,” which contributes to solving social, economic, environmental, and cultural problems in a logic of overall territorial development by supporting innovative strategies for sustainable urban renewal. A second grocery store was inaugurated on July 1, 2010, in the Moulins district. Beneficiaries have the opportunity to visit it from Monday to Friday from 9 AM to 12 PM and from 2 PM to 5 PM.
