A supermarket in Royton which was forced to close for most of the day due to a power cut has rescued thousands of pounds worth of stock to support local causes.
The Co-operative shop on Rochdale Road closed its doors to customers until 12.45pm today (Monday, February 26) as a power outage presented a "total loss" of its chilled and frozen produce.
Store manager, Darren Ramsden, said the team worked hard to resolve the problem but estimates the store suffered a loss of more than £20,000 since the refrigerators went down at 1am.
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He added: "The majority of what is lost, is lost.
"It would be unethical to provide food to children or pregnant mothers that could be tarnished.
"We would not want to inflict illness onto either suggested parties, so won't take this risk."
However, determined to make the best out of a bad situation, the Co-op team sprung into action and managed to spare £5,000 worth of food, all of which has gone to stock the shelves of Oldham Foodbank.
Photographs show all the shelves in the frozen aisle and chilled fridges were completely emptied for the task.
Another image shows a van piled high with goods for the food bank, including huge tubs of butter, margarine and dozens of blocks of cheese and bags of grated cheese in flavours from mild to red leister.
As well as many of Co-op's own produce, branded items have also gone to the charity, including several tubs of Lurpak and Cathedral City cheese.
Mr Ramsden said: "The store is now back open and trading.
"Apologies for the delay in reopening but we had to ensure that all unsafe food products had been removed from sale correctly.
"We managed to donate around £5,000 worth of longer-life food products to Oldham Foodbank.
"Please bear with us for the next couple of days as it will take this time to merchandise the shop floor."
It's not the first time the fast-thinking team have supported local causes, either.
Last summer, Co-op suffered another power outage of more than 24 hours and donated £800 worth of food to Oldham Foodbank and a further £2,000 to Think! Food 2 Plate.
The team also support Dr Kershaw's Hospice and in its Rose to Remember appeal raised a whopping £12,500 though fundraising efforts.
Mr Ramsden said giving back to the community is "a real important part of what we do".
Reacting to the latest swathe of donations on social media, residents and customers across Oldham said the team were "amazing".
A woman wrote: "You've definitely done some good."
Meanwhile, a volunteer at the foodbank added: "I'm working at the foodbank today and it's great to see the fridges stocked. Thanks."
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