Chongqing Supermarket Sells Staples For Love

The first charity supermarket in Chongqing has opened on the city's Shimahe Street, in Jiangbei district.

Designed for people living on or below the poverty level, the supermarket sells daily staple necessities such as rice, oil, salt, and monosodium glutamate and these goods are sold at much lower prices than the equivalent items sold in other supermarkets. In addition these prices will remain unchanged all the year around irrespective of market price fluctuations.

Unlike other supermarkets, this charity supermarket does not accept cash. Instead, it only accepts love coupons. The supermarket will give away love coupons with a face value of CNY50 each month to more than 3,000 poor people in the city so they can come to the supermarket to exchange the love coupons for staple goods. When there is a holiday in the month, higher value coupons will be sent to the poor.