The towns and cities in our country are divided into geographical communities called Barangay. Most Barangays have their own community cooperative which sells basic necessities particularly food items. When the main road was being rehabilitated, I would pass by a detour road where I noticed a queue in one house every morning. When I investigated, it was a store of community cooperative that is located in a house (probably of an official). The scheme of a cooperative is you have to be a member to avail of the privileges. Members are allowed to buy at special discounts and you also earn dividends from the profit earned by the cooperative. It is very beneficial particularly for the poor. Coops normally sell rice, eggs, cooking oil, sugar and canned goods that would be a good supply of kitchen needs for the neighborhood.
They used to have a similar shop to that where I lived before, as we were quite a distance away from any main shops or anything. It used to have an additional section (aside from bread, milk, rice, eggs, pasta and a few fresh fruits and vegetables that were grown locally) that was just full of freezers of food at really low prices. You had to be a member of their club to be allowed to buy from there but once I became a member I was able to get lots of great food at really low prices. I got a gateaux one day for £0.50! It was a great shop. However you had to be employed in certain trades to be allowed to shop there and join their club, which sort of defeated the object of the low prices to help the poor, given it didn't allow unemployed people to join. I think it's a little different to what you have there anyway though.
