The 'Making of' a Village Shop

This explains how the Village shop came into being

In the beginning...

During the early part of 2008 it was announced that the existing village shop at Parc Seymour, Penhow would loose its post office contract. It soon became obvious that the Shop could not continue to trade viably without the Post Office, and the owners indicated they would lease the shop to anyone who thought they could make it work again.

It became apparent to some residents that the village had lost a valuable asset and that something needed to be done. Thankfully two enlighten residents Simon Brook and Ann Tyler got together to try to encourage some support for an initiative to re-open the shop as a community project.

Funding

It was agreed that we would ask the local residents to provide financial backing in the form of unsecured loans of £50 or make a donation. This would not only spread the risk, but hopefully demonstrate the communities support for the project.

Following numerous mail-shots, e-mail newsletters, public consultation meetings and Community Council meetings enough support was gained to form a steering group and divided up the many tasks needed to be completed if the project was to be successful. These included recruiting enough volunteers to run the shop, plan what maintenance would have to be done before we opened, carryout a full market survey, explore and resolve any legal issues, source appropriate stock for the shop, write and agree a business plan and investigate any other areas for funding or grants.

By end of September we had reached our target of £7500 for loans and donations which included a £1000 donation from the Penhow Community Council to purchase fixtures and fittings.

Negotiations took place with the owners of the shop and a lease document was agreed and signed by both parties.

The Management

The steering group elected some of its members to positions on a newly formed management committee as is required under our new rules.
The following were elected: Brian Shepherd - Chair; Allan Petty - Deputy Chair; Anne Tyler – Company Secretary, Simon Brook- Financial Officer, Ann Underwood- Health & Safety, Jackie Petty – Purchasing, Jacquie Frost – Volunteer Rota, Ian Cuff – Delivery & Reverse Credit, Libby Fehler – Legal Advisor and Mo Hemingway – Minutes Secretary.

The First Community Shop in Wales was born

A small team of volunteers removed the existing shelves from the shop, then cleaned and painted the premises, reorganised and fitted back the shelves so that we would be ready to re-stock the shop, training of over 50 volunteers took place and the buying team work hard to stock the shelves and be ready for the planned opening in November. It was also agreed to offer membership of Penhow Village Shop Limited with one share to those who wished to join, expressing that people did not have to be a member to use the shop.

The Shop was formally opened on the 4th November 2008.

Retailers?

So the planning and start up stage was over, however now we had to learn to be retailers, try to predict the shopping pattern of our customers, ensure that we had ordered enough bread, eggs, cakes, milk, newspapers and purchase products at a price which made us competitive.

That first week was amazing with residents coming to see what all the fuss was about. It was great to hear their comments and encouragement.

The introduction of French bread, croissants, baguettes and tartlets etc. on that first Saturday morning was an outstanding success. The quality of the product was superb, we had a record 133 customers on that first Saturday morning which needed 5 volunteers serving in the shop. Saturday morning French bread continues to be popular, so if you haven’t sampled it come along and try it. Our baker is a genuine Frenchman from a family of bakers, who uses French ingredients in his bakery in Ross-on-Wye. A Frenchman baking in England and selling in Wales!

The next six months

By Christmas 2008 we had completed 8 weeks trading and the first months accounts showed that financially we are slightly better than predicted. Throughout the bitter winter the residents saw the additional value of their local shop with the snow and icy conditions. It was during this time that many residents took up the new home delivery service which provides much comfort to those who are disabled, have mobility problems or are too ill to get out. This service has lnow been extended to everyone so that busy young families could use the shop even if they did not have the time to visit it.

Our local Community first kindly gave our shop a grant of £1000 to purchase an additional freezer cabinet so that we could increase our frozen food stock and in April we introduced a wider range of Frozen Fish.

Following on from guidance that residents gave us in our initial market survey, we continued to source locally made products where possible. Free range eggs, milk and bread from the Newport and Cardiff area, cakes from Raglan, preserves from Llangwm, Usk, butter from Lydney and even greeting cards from Usk are already in the shop.

Arranging to get the Post Office van to park outside the shop 4 mornings per week was a great success. The van provides a full Post Office services which attracted more people, benefiting both them and the shop.

Volunteers

We could not have got this far without the help of all our volunteers. So everyone involved offers you a very big thank you for continuing to providing your time free of charge.

Volunteers have also been responsible for circulating the Shop mail shot to over 600 homes. In future it is intended to provide up-dates on the website, by email, the local community council notice boards, village halls or copies available in the shop. If you would like to receive information by e-mail and are not currently receiving it this way, then please send you e-mail address to allanpetty@live.com and you will be added to the circulation list.

Commmunity Support

Remember, “you do not have to be a volunteer or a member to be a customer”.
Try us, you will be surprised at the progress we have made in such a short time.