Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Village community shops.  (Read 7723 times)

ambriel

  • Joined Jan 2011
  • Kinlochbervie, NW Sutherland, Scotland
  • Mad, bad, and dangerous to know!
    • Harbour Cottage
Re: Village community shops.
« Reply #15 on: May 31, 2011, 01:06:44 pm »

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.

waterhouse

  • Guest
Re: Village community shops.
« Reply #16 on: May 31, 2011, 01:27:11 pm »
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

goosepimple

  • Joined May 2010
  • nr Lauder, Scottish Borders
Re: Village community shops.
« Reply #17 on: May 31, 2011, 01:52:08 pm »
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.
registered soay, castlemilk moorit  and north ronaldsay sheep, pygmy goats, steinbacher geese, muscovy ducks, various hens, lots of visiting mallards, a naughty border collie, a puss and a couple of guinea pigs

Anke

  • Joined Dec 2009
  • St Boswells, Scottish Borders
Re: Village community shops.
« Reply #18 on: May 31, 2011, 03:47:51 pm »
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!!!!)

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Village community shops.
« Reply #19 on: May 31, 2011, 04:56:34 pm »
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 >:(
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Crofter

  • Joined Jan 2009
  • Isle of Lewis
  • We'll get there!
    • Ravenstar
Re: Village community shops.
« Reply #20 on: June 01, 2011, 08:23:16 am »
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
Comfortable B&B on a working Croft on the Isle of Lewis. www.Ravenstar.co.uk

 

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