Case studies
Communities, particularly in rural areas, are often at risk of losing essential services when their local shop or post office closes. To date, around 250 of these communities have raised funds to create their own community shop, staffed largely by volunteers and for the benefit of the community, helped by the Plunkett Foundation. By participating in the Look for Local Food project, shops are able to offer consumers fresh, locally-produced food, reconnecting people with producers and giving them a unique selling point over distant supermarkets. Below are just a few examples of shops taking part in the project.
Blisland Village Shop, Cornwall
Blisland is a community-owned shop in a rural village in Cornwall. It took part in the pilot stage of the Look for Local Food project, and has strong links with local food producers and community supported agriculture (CSA) projects in the area. After losing its shop and post office, the community of Blisland ran its own village services from a donated, rusting shipping container for seven years. During that time, the community raised funds and worked to secure grants from various sources, and finally celebrated the opening of a £573,000 multi-use community facility that includes a post office, village shop, GP consulting room, access to computers and three small business units. Taking part in the Look for Local Food project was a natural progression for the shop, which is very much the heart of the community.
Margaret Marshall, shop volunteer, confirmed the success of the project: “People enjoy the freshness and knowing where it comes from, as well as saving the time and expense of travelling to town. We try to sell at competitive prices that are still fair to the farmer, whilst the money made goes back into the community.”
Bathford Village Shop, Somerset
Bathford Village Shop, Bath, opened in June 2006 and is a community-owned shop run by volunteers. It offers a broad range of products, including locally-sourced fruit and vegetables, bacon and sausages and organic milk and cream from nearby farms and homemade pies and quiches from the local butcher, ensuring a fair price for both consumer and producer. It also provides a suggestion book, enabling the community to voice their opinions on the stock of the shop.
Hopes of Longtown, Herefordshire
In 2001, Foot & Mouth had devastated the income in the Herefordshire area and many people were carrying mental scars not visible to many. The closure of the village shop in Longtown was not just a service lost, but another mental scar of recent events.
Christine Hope (pictured) took action by renting the closed down premises (on a percentage of turnover) and Hopes of Longtown was started. Within two years it became a partnership on a new site and in 2004 had built brand new premises meeting new customer expectations and being compliant with disability standards to include everyone - and a turnover of quarter of a million from nothing.
Hopes of Longtown aims to combine the quality of the farmers' market with the convenience of a superstore, sustaining local economies. Last year, Hopes of Longtown won a place on the coveted Future 100 Awards, which recognise 100 young social entrepreneurs that demonstrate a social business with a triple bottom line.
With a second store opening last month, Hopes of Poston, businesses are going from strength to strength, with some of the more unusual socially aware products being a must. Plus with a pig, composter and 'wiggly wormery' it definitely has put a strategy in place to minimise waste.
