The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Crofter on May 30, 2011, 08:29:00 am
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Hi all
It was so nice to see a positive story in the news. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13568374 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13568374)
We are lucky here with a thriving private local shop, hairdresser, petrol station, garage, gift shop and pharmacy all only 7 miles from Stornoway. There are several Community Shops on the islands which seem to help their communities.
Do any of you have Community Shops nearby and are they well supported? Do you still have a traditional village store?
Be interesting to find out as I guess most of us live in rural areas.
Dave
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We had a nice epicerie here but the owner retired. We have a teeth breaking bakers and a butcher who charges a different price depending if you are in his clique or not. He is quite open about it, never bothering that the ladies before and behind are charged 9 euros per kilo for mince (still very expensive) and us non cliques are charged 12. It took me ages to work out why he never had a price list. So I shop in the smallest supermarket in our nearest town where the bread is edible and the prices the same for everyone.
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10 years ago we had 2 shops and a post office. We now have none!
We do still have two pubs and a working men's club though, i guess it's a matter of priorities :)
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I forgot the 2 churches and the 4 pubs.
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We have a shop in the next vilage and a pub all we have in our hamlet is a church. I expect the shop doesn't get much business from our hamlet as everyone seems to go to the supermarket over 10 miles away they are too posh to grow and barter
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We're in the prosperous south-east - which means in our town centre I counted five empty shops in a row next to a failing restaurant followed by three charity shops. The other side of the road is better but gappy. Rents will fall dramatically without doubt and there's a way to go yet, but we could then see some decent local shops return?
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We're just across the Minch from you, in Kinlochbervie.
We've still got a village filling station, post office, small Spar shop and a handful of others, plus the local hotel/bar. The Fishermen's Mission closed a few years ago, sadly.
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Things seem to be looking up a bit, we live in a once thriving area (many years ago) that has lost shop after shop, we have a good Co-Op and Post Office,A chemist, 2 Hairdressers and a couple of corner shops and some take aways!!!!! Apparently there used to be a Bakers, tea room, gift shop etc etc, we can see a def improvement so hope it continues!!!!!
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The Co-op which spent thirty years as a crap retailer living off its property portfolio has got its act together and is a real competitor to the Sainsburys/Tesco etc. Thank heavens.
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We have a traditional village shop, extremely well-supported. Until a couple of years ago it was the Post Office too, which made it a viable business. Now the proprietors are retiring and have put it up for sale - with no real hope of anyone buying it as a going concern. So the expectation is that it will get pp for conversion to residential and another village shop will bite the dust. Meanwhile of course the bus service gets cut back and back, which makes a mockery of the argument the PO made about shutting our in-shop service - as we all predicted but of course nothing could stop the great God of Cost-Effectiveness.
Currently the youngsters in the villages can pop into the shop and spend some pocket money, hang around on the picnic benches outside how youngsters do, all with the shop's owners kindly eye and ear on them. When the shop closes the kids will get the bus (such as they are) to town, where no-one will know them, and they'll buy alcohol and hang around in the streets - and some of them will get ASBOs... Yep, all very cost effective. ::)
Yes we know we could decide to buy the shop and run a community shop. Be sure we will think about it if no buyer comes forward.
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Carnoustie's a nice wee town - Co-op, drycleaners, couple of opticians, millions of hairdressers and beauty salons, takeaways, dentists, two newsagents, a nice art shop, lovely florist, pet shop, butchers, two bakers and others. It has three primary schools and a secondary school, leisure centre, lovely library. (So not that small really). What it lacks is petrol. Apparently there used to be two filling stations, now there are none. I shop there during the week; we all use the library. But I know if I need fuel, I go to Barnhill, which is the other way from Carnoustie from our road end, and go past Tesco in Monifieth, so go there for shopping.
The local Community Council think that a filling station si a good thing and seem prepared to invite in one of the big supermarkets to run it. If they do, it will be the death of the High Street. I think Applecross has a community filling station - that woudl be a better option for here.
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SintN has your village considered buying the shop and turning it into a community shop, with volunteers running it.
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All we have now is the Spar shop, it has the petrol station, the baker and butcher who were down by the harbour have both closed. The Post Office is in the Spar on a Tuesday and Thursday morning. Their is a Hotel down past the harbour but i think he only opens in the summer. There are two vans go round the village, one selling veg, the other fish. ;D
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Yes we know we could decide to buy the shop and run a community shop. Be sure we will think about it if no buyer comes forward.
Aye, we did that, but as happens cliques arise and now its hardly used as people dont want their business gossiped about, the whole village was behind it at first but once people realised who was going to run it the support dried up.
But it is possible to get support from charities to enable such projects to go forward though it will be more difficult in todays economic climate.
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Quite a few viable sounding communities around then!
I think that at least two of our community shops on the Island are backed by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) and the local Co-op supermarket sells them stock at wholesale price if they collect it.
Petrol and diesel are always a big issue here, we're currently paying £1.54 for Diesel!
Dave
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Yes, fuel prices here are cripplying, too. Our prices are the same as yours. Most people fill up at Tesco when they go to Inverness but by the time you're home again you've used a quarter of a tank.
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I think the problem is planning combined with a brutal economic climate.
When a shop proprietor retires or otherwise ceases trading he/she wants to get the best price for the property because it's likely to be most of the pension. If the business isn't profitable then the property has a low existing use value but may have a high alternative use value. So it depends on the planning system as to whether a change of use is allowed. That depends on what the local plan says, the attitude of the planners, and the voice of the electorate.
Few are entitled to a change of use for their property, and its being more value for one thing rather than another is not supposed to be part of the decision process. If there's demand for the service and - crucially - someone to provide it then the planners have to listen.
For years the petrol filling station was a property play. Lots were bought in the hope of a development opportunity but supported by petrol receipts until that arrived. Then the petrol selling business got nasty and the buying power of the big guys made the small guys uneconomic. So the closure rate has been horrific except where tesco etc have taken on the site. They can sell petrol cheaper but it doesn't have to make a profit because it's all down to the shop sales. Of course it wipes out everything else in the village but social responsibility doesn't figure in the profit and loss account so highly.
There is an easy calculation which is work out the distance that it is worth going out of your way to buy fuel 1p/litre cheaper. As overall fuel prices rise the cost of seeking cheaper fuel also rises, which may keep som privateers in business.
Of course if Monifieth lacks any fuel then the consequences are inevitable. I know a small animal vet there, name of Buchan
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In the last village we lived nearby the locall pantry shop closed, then some very nice people took over, did a fit out in 1950s style, stacked loads of stuff in and now do great coffee, newspapers and have their own labels in wines and jams and do winetastings etc, a barrow outside for their fruit and veg and tables and chairs for your coffee stop - its just a hole in the wall shop but its brilliant and the owners are stars - great insentive to anyone looking for an alternative lifestyle.
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Well our nearest village only has two pubs, a primary school and someone opened a cafe/art gallery a couple of years back... but as a smallholder with an ever decreasing family budget and free time sitting and sipping coffee is a thing of the past....
On the note of post offices disappearing - I just made the 10 mile round journey to post a letter that needed to be weighed/go abraod, only to find that the lady in the post office has decided to take her lunch - no official note or anything, other than - she is entitled to her lunch (it was 1.45pm and she was to be out for another hour).... It is meant to be open during lunch time, but hey what can you do if she shuts the curtain! No wonder post offices are not profitable/people are doing their stuff online as much as possible... I have just spent money on diesel, missed my lunch!, and letter is still to be posted! (requiring return journey!!!!)
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Yes we know we could decide to buy the shop and run a community shop. Be sure we will think about it if no buyer comes forward.
SintN has your village considered buying the shop and turning it into a community shop, with volunteers running it.
???
Aha, so it is not just BH who only listens to about a third of what I say... ;) :D >:(
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A vacant little shop beside our filling station has just opened as a "Paint a Pot" studio. You know, the places where you can paint unglazed pottery, then they glaze it and fire it. It's a tearoom too so that may help to offset the seasonal nature of the shop. Like many places we are very seasonal here and small businesses who depend on the tourists struggle to make it through the winter. Our own B&B season is really only May to September.
Dave