The independent shops behind the data. With consent. By name.
The I500 corpus is built by trained community auditors visiting independent shops across South London with shop-owner consent. The Shop Directory is where each participating shop gets a permanent page on scansmart.uk — cultural specialism, location, products from the I500 they stock, and what makes their shelves worth visiting.
Coming soon — the inaugural shop pages.
What a Shop Directory page looks like
Each shop page carries: shop name and photograph (with owner consent), address with map embed, cultural specialism tags (halal, Caribbean, South Asian, kosher, West African, East African, Latin American, vegan-specialist, refill, organic), the I500 products audited at that shop with traffic-light readings and links to CheckIT scans, shop-owner name and quote (when consented), opening hours, date last audited (transparency on data freshness), and a permanent dated permalink.
The voice is split: Dr RooT for the data sections (audit results, traffic-light readings, I500 verification status); KiP / SaK for the consumer-facing framing (find this shop, what they do well, what makes them different).
Each shop page is also linked from the I500 counterpoint section of the Weekly Supermarket Checkout (Door 4). When the Checkout cites a better alternative from an independent shop, the shop name links to that shop’s directory page — driving real footfall to participating shops.
What an entry will look like once shops opt in.
The block below is an illustrative template showing the shape of a Shop Directory entry — not a real shop. Real shop names, photographs, and quotes appear only with explicit owner consent per the Shop Participation Agreement (Appendix B). Fields marked […] populate from the audit and the consent form.
[Shop Name] — [Neighbourhood]
Address: [Street] · [Postcode] · [Borough]
Specialisms: Halal · South Asian groceries · Cultural-specific staples
Opening hours: Mon–Sat [09:00–20:00] · Sun [10:00–18:00]
Last audited: [date] · Audited by: [Community auditor name (with consent)]
Owner’s words (with consent)
“[Shop owner’s own words about what makes their shop different — the products they curate, the community they serve, the relationships they hold. Verbatim. No founder rewrite. No marketing overlay.]”
— [Owner first name], [Shop name]
I500 products audited at this shop (Dr RooT analyst register)
[Number] products from this shop are in the I500 corpus as of the last audit. Aggregate findings publish freely; the row-level data sits behind the institutional licence per our subscription posture.
| Product | Category | FSA Sugar | FSA Salt | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Product 1] | [e.g. Spice blend] | Green | Amber | Absent from OFF |
| [Product 2] | [e.g. Biscuit / sweet] | Red | Green | Verified per-100g |
| [Product 3] | [e.g. Sauce] | Green | Red | Reformulation flagged |
Find this shop (KiP / SaK voice)
[A line or two in plain language about what this shop is for, who shops there, and why the community values it. Written for the shopper at the moment of decision.]
Permalink: scansmart.uk/shops/[shop-slug] · permanent · dated · updated only with shop owner’s consent.
When the inaugural Lambeth pilot shops opt in (May 2026 onwards), each shop’s real entry replaces this template at scansmart.uk/shops/[their-shop-slug]. The community-audit programme is built so the shop owner stays in control of what’s published about their shop — from photo to quote to which products appear in the I500 listing.
Join the I500.
If you run an independent shop in South London (or further afield as the programme expands) and you’d like to join the I500 audit programme, get in touch via the form below. The conversation usually goes:
- We come to your shop, introduce ourselves, show you the existing I500 in CheckIT, and explain how the programme works (Shop Participation Agreement Appendix B available before any audit happens)
- If you’re interested, we agree on which products to audit (typically the cultural-specific products that don’t appear in major supermarket databases)
- The audit is performed by trained community auditors from your area, never contractors flown in
- Your shop gets a permanent page on scansmart.uk, your shop’s products appear in CheckIT for shoppers, and you’re part of the I500 institutional data product that licenses to NHS commissioners and FMCG manufacturers (with your consent on what data leaves your shop)
- No payment to SCANSMART, no payment from SCANSMART — the relationship is a community partnership, not a commercial transaction. Some borough-pilot programmes may include a small honorarium per shop where the partner-borough commissions the audit; that’s passed through to you separately.