Exmouth Nub News aims to support our community, promoting shops, businesses, charities, clubs and sports groups. We will be profiling some of these businesses and organisations regularly in a feature called 'Up Close in Exmouth'.

This week we're talking to Joseph Cacchione, store manager of the Co-op's Exmouth store. Joseph told us about his experiences there, what makes the Co-op a great company and what the Exmouth store has been doing in the local community.

Joseph (pictured above) started working in retail when he was just 15 years old. Originally from London, he has lived and worked in Devon for almost two decades.

He came to the Co-op in his current role as Store Manager. Covering the Dawlish store, Joseph just recently started managing the Exmouth store in Magnolia Walk.

He said: "The store team at Exmouth has welcomed me with open arms – and I've only been there eight weeks, despite some of them knowing each other for more than 20 years!

"As a store manager, you are their boss at the end of the day, but they've gone out of their way to be warm and welcoming to me.

"They even made me lunch while I was working on a Sunday - a great bunch of people."

Speaking about the best part of the job, Joseph said that interacting with customers and the local community was his favourite – and his role at the Co-op enabled him to help people in need during the pandemic.

"Interacting with customers and the community are my favourite part of the job, especially when getting to know people and giving the more mature customers a helping hand.

"During the Covid pandemic, I made deliveries to anyone who needed a bit of help - all local people, with local needs. We all made sure that people had what they needed."

Joseph said that the Co-op tries to 'regenerate' food that can no longer be sold and recycles a very high percentage of its waste. The company also has a new initiative in place for customers to recycle their soft plastics.

He added: "Various local community organisations take food that's still good, but we can't sell, and we try to 'regenerate' everything. We've partnered with local food banks and volunteers come in to collect food and take it to those that need it.

"The Co-op try and recycle as much as possible, and we don't have refuse collections - it all goes back to our central depots. We have a colour-coded system: red, green and blue. Red is landfill, green is for compost, and blue is for recyclable materials.

"We're also taking soft plastics from customers as part of a new initiative for recycling. They can bring their packaging into the store and put it in the recycling area near the checkout."

In Exmouth, the Co-op supports several local causes, including local mental health service HeadsUp, which offers free sessions for young people, Exmouth Amateur Boxing Club, and East Devon Radio.

Joseph added: "The Co-op has some really deep-rooted values in the community - its stores are in almost every postcode in the country, and they give us a lot of support where we can go and volunteer for different groups."

The South West area of the Co-op also just completed the 'Million Pound Mile' event to raise money for Mind, its national charity partner. Co-op colleagues walked, danced, or ran 44 miles over a six day period – totalling a million miles collectively.

Co-op membership helps support your local community, with great rewards for you too. When you buy selected Co-op branded products and services, 2p for every pound spent goes to you and we'll give the same to local communities. Join us today online at www.coop.co.uk/membership or in-store.

To find out more about the local causes that Co-op supports in Exmouth visit:

https://www.eastdevon.radio/East Devon Radio