Latest news with #shop
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
‘We ditched the 9-5 to buy the village shop – it's thriving'
Has your village been revitalised by its shop or a community activity? Let us know at money@ Dale Stores in Birstwith, near Harrogate in Yorkshire, is heaving at 11 on a Thursday morning. Tradesmen pile in to buy their lunch and locals grab the paper and a loaf of bread. 'Every village should have a shop,' says Andrea Walwyn as she makes room for more customers to squeeze in. The sense of community is immediately obvious as Walwyn, 60, greets nearly everyone by name and asks them about their lives. Birstwith is a tiny village, 20 minutes from the spa town of Harrogate with one school, a GP surgery and a pub. Before the Walwyns took over in 2006, the shop had been an ordinary convenience store that looked unlikely to survive. Now it has become the beating heart of the village, a hub of activity and support for locals. Walwyn runs the small shop with her husband Matthew. It's not a high-end farm shop: a loaf of sourdough will only cost you £2.99. Fresh and local produce are on offer, but so too are the price-matched items you might find in a corner shop, along with a Post Office counter. When they saw the store was for sale, the husband and wife took a leap of faith and quit their nine-to-fives to take it on. They were tired of never seeing each other while she was a managing director of a division of pest control firm Rentokil and he worked for a Belgian bakery company. 'We were living as ships in the night,' says Walwyn. 'We were never home.' They bought the shop for £487,000 and moved from Harrogate into the house next door. Walwyn says it was the 'scariest thing I've ever done... You're leaving the comfort of a salary, pension, work car, everything'. The couple exude the energy of people half their age, still wearing their Glastonbury Festival wristbands – 'I could live there,' Walwyn admits. This energy is a necessity as they work from 6.30am to 7pm, six days a week. On their first Saturday, they made just £200. 'We sat on the bench outside and we thought, 'what are we going to do?'' Walwyn recalls. 'We would have spent £200 on our weekly shop.' Now, on a Saturday nearly 20 years later, they made £2,000 – a 900pc increase. The shop wouldn't have survived without their intervention, Walwyn admits. Banks, post offices and pubs are increasingly under threat in Britain's rural villages thanks to soaring costs and tax raids. Plunkett, a charity supporting rural community-owned businesses, estimates that in 2024 about 300 village shops and 200 pubs closed their doors. James Lowman, of the Association of Convenience Stores, said in a report: 'Rural shops are increasingly acting as miniature high streets in their own right, taking on services that would have previously been available locally like access to cash, bill payments, Post Office services and prescription collections.' More than 400 bank closures are expected this year, according to the Rural Services Network, along with 150 banking hubs. Earlier this year, the Countryside Alliance said that 'recent high levels of inflation have had a disproportionate impact on village shops and broader rural enterprises'. Meanwhile the Farm Retail Association said as many as half of all farm shops could be forced to close their doors in the coming years as owners are 'hit from both ends' by Rachel Reeves's Budget, due to changes to agricultural property relief as well as employers' National Insurance contributions and minimum wage. High streets in market towns are also struggling; 37 shops closed a day in 2024 according to the Centre for Retail Research. Yet Dale Stores seems to be bucking this trend. Walwyn believes the reason they've thrived is because of their ability to adapt. In the age of online shopping, maintaining a home delivery service has proved fruitful. Its status as a destination – drawing visitors in from as far as Harrogate for a pork pie – has also enabled its survival. It sells traybakes and cakes from local bakeries, pies and pasties from local butchers and fresh bread made in-store daily. The shop has become 'essential' to the village, says David Sutcliffe, who lives a 10-minute walk away. He visits once if not twice a day. 'They're helpful and friendly and it's just an essential part of the village.' Some 40pc of rural shops are the only convenience stores in the area, with no other shops or businesses nearby, the Association of Convenience Stores found. When Covid hit, Dale Stores proved vital for families who couldn't leave the house. The fresh food counter, which had sold more than 200 sandwiches a day for years, closed. In its stead a home delivery service was born. Sixty local volunteers would drive around the Dales delivering groceries and essentials. This trend has continued and certain customers even order the full weekly shop. For some elderly regulars, it provides their only interaction of the day. Customers linger to chat with each other and the staff and the shop feels consistently busy for hours. 'We want to leave customers with a smile on their face,' says Walwyn. She says the key to making a village shop work is trust. The team has built close relationships with customers, including delivering one woman's groceries every week since the pandemic. The 90-year-old can't leave the house so the team unpacks the shopping and also takes her purse to pay her bills. It's this kind of 'special relationship' that makes families choose to shop locally rather than at a chain, the mother of two believes. Students and retirees volunteering together Across Britain there are 407 community-owned shops, creating 7,500 volunteer positions. One such store was created in Trawden, Lancashire after the village's only shop closed in 2016. The locals took matters into their own hands and offered to buy the community centre off the local council for £1. Now, seven years later, a huge operation of 160 volunteers keeps the village shop, library and community centre going. When they bought it, families poured in with paintbrushes to revamp the run-down building and make it fit for parties and groups such as Scouts and Brownies. 'We have all this activity in one tiny village. We've really been able to capitalise on the volunteer spirit and keep the momentum going,' says Ann Boocock. She has lived on the outskirts of Trawden for 33 years – and says she has met 'more people in the past seven years volunteering than I did in the first 26 years living here'. The shop requires 146 hours of volunteering a week to run. That involves everything from serving customers to stacking shelves and doing the accounts. It has a filling station – where you can fill your own jars with herbs and spices – as well as tins and jars and locally sourced meat and vegetables. The volunteers range from pupils completing their Duke of Edinburgh to retirees. Trawden's shop has become a lifeline for the community, Boocock explains, due to the rural nature of the village: 'We're at the end of the road in terms of connections. We easily get cut off when it snows. Last winter no one could leave for three days, we sold out of everything.' The shop and community centre has been able to weather various challenges – from Covid to the cost of living crisis – because of the strong desire to invest locally. Boocock says they 'didn't expect the shop to take off as it did' but it has been a 'huge success story'. Profits are invested back into the charity to spend on maintenance and community clubs. The majority of the customers, as well as those who hire the centre for parties, are local. 'Everybody cares so passionately about our village and that sense of positivity it creates. People really want to spread the love.'
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
'We will not be closing again' -store reopens after its week-long unexpected closure
A shop in Bolton has re-opened after being closed for a week, only two weeks after opening. Ideal Home and Food Hall bosses say the store closed in order to implement suggestions from customers. Adam Ali from the store, which is based on Deansgate, said the main reason for the week-long closure was "re-merchandising". He explained that too many similar products were being placed close together in the store, as customers complained everything was too spread out. (Image: NQ) More: Major service returns to M&S after 15 week hiatus following cyber attack More: 'Stop using it immediately': Shoppers at Tesco, Asda, Lidl & more issued warning More: Voucher warning to all M&S customers as big change coming soon to UK stores Mr Ali said the store has also bought some new shelves and brought clothing into the store, and that they are still getting to grips with what shoppers in the area want. The downstairs section remains closed today, but will apparently be opening, according to Mr Ali, on August 14, or a few days after at the latest. "No, we won't be closing again," Mr Ali said after being asked if anymore closures were imminent. The week-long closure wasn't the first bump in the road for the new store. (Image: NQ) On its opening day on July 18, the lower floor was expected to be operational, but was instead blocked off. The business wants to to breathe new life into the town's high street, which has been hit hard in recent years by the loss of high profile names like Marks & Spencer. The store announced they are offering five per cent off food shopping for university students, old-age pensioners and disabled people, NHS staff, police officers and firefighters. The company also has plans to set up other stores in Edinburgh and Darlington, they reported back in July. Ideal Home & Food Hall opened in the space once occupied by Wilko and then Poundland in Deansgate. Bosses say that the store prides itself on the personal touch with no self-checkouts.
The Sun
11-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
I spent £2.60 on a lost parcel, I was expecting a bag of screws but was so happy with what I got, I went back for more
WE'VE all experienced patiently waiting for a delivery, only for it not to turn up. You might wonder what has happened to them, and it turns out that some companies buy unclaimed parcels in bulk to sell on. 2 2 And one woman decided to try her luck by buying a lost package for just £2.60, not knowing what was inside. Melika Zaidi, from the UK, found a shop dedicated to selling lost packages. The shop was filled with unmarked packages for people to buy in the hopes of getting more than what they paid. Melika said: "This is so exciting. Watch it be like a bag of screws or something." In the shop, you weigh the package out and pay for that, and Melika's cost her just £2.60. She paid at the till before opening it up. "I've just bought this parcel in the mystery parcel shop where it's unclaimed and lost parcels and I've got no idea what it is," she said. "So I'm gonna burst immediately in. It was like three euros. I'm bursting in." As she ripped into the bag, she was pleasantly surprised with her mystery package which fortunately, wasn't filled with screws. Melika added: "Oh my God, it's like a little handheld game console. I spent £136 to see if the lost luggage trend was worth it - I thought I'd nab designer goodies but it was a total flop "Sorry, that's like the cutest thing. "I actually think that's a bargain." Melika was so impressed with her buy that she decided she wasn't going to stop there and purchased two more packages to unwrap. While the shop Melika went to was in Barcelona, you can enjoy the fun too as many charity shops offer mystery packs to buy. The clip posted to her TikTok account @ melika_zaidi went viral with over 25k likes and people were quick to share their thoughts in the comments. One person wrote: "Some poor kids somewhere is sat wondering where their game is." "Omg where is this, I need to go," penned a third. Where to find mystery boxes MYSTERY boxes are becoming more and more popular, with people keen to take a gamble in buying one. But where can you get one from? Charity shops Lots of charity shops have started putting together mystery boxes as a way to get rid of stock that they've been otherwise unable to sell. While you can never guarantee what you're going to get, these boxes are usually cheaper than ones bought elsewhere. eBay Many retailers use eBay to sell their stock, with options on the auction site including unclaimed luggage or parcel returns, all put together in a mystery box. It's not like a normal 'auction' though - there will usually be a buy it now price so it's just like any other internet transaction. Online retailers As the popularity of mystery boxes increases, other retailers have started selling them in the hope that they will be a hit among customers. Have a look on sites such as Amazon, Etsy and Wowcher, and you'll often find the mystery boxes are listed by genre too. Google If there's a particular niche mystery box you're looking for, it's always worth searching for it. There are so many websites out there selling mystery boxes, you'll undoubtedly find what you're after. As with buying anything online, make sure you are purchasing from a trusted retailer and a secure website. Meanwhile, a fourth said: "The little gaming thing is so cute! ....and all a bargain!!" "We need moreeee, hehe,' claimed a fifth
Daily Mail
06-08-2025
- Daily Mail
Babushka beatdown! Moment grandmothers have an all out brawl over who gets to buy last pack of cigarettes
This is the shocking moment two elderly women were spotted brawling in a shop over the last pack of cigarettes. The women were seen hitting each other as they wrestled in the doorway of the shop in Saint Petersburg, Russia, before continuing to brawl inside the store and forcing the shop owner to intervene.
Yahoo
03-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New butcher shop a welcome 'addition' after opening in Idle village
A NEW butcher shop has become a welcome 'addition' after opening in Idle village. The Idle Butcher, located at 31 The Green, Idle, opened in late July. The village of Idle has not had a butcher's shop for many years. 'Idle needed a butcher,' said Marcin Wysocki, owner of The Idle Butcher. 'If we have a butcher, Idle has everything. 'The opportunity to open a butchers came along and we jumped at the chance,' who alongside Gosia Liwanowska run the award-winning Idle Bakery and Café, on Bradford Road. 'It helps bring even more life back to the village,' said Marcin. 'If you walk the streets of Idle now, it is so well supported by shops and small businesses. 'You can come to Idle village. You don't need to go to the big shops. 'Our shop will bring good products to the village for all. He said the butcher sells raw lamb, pork, beef, turkey and chicken meats. 'We'll have Polish products such as sausages and hams as well,' added Marcin, who is Polish. 'We're a little bit international but will also stock local products. 'We've been in the village since 2019,' said Marcin, who added: 'For six years, we're run the Idle Bakery and Cafe.' Marcin said that Idle Butcher will be open from Tuesday to Saturday, leaving Monday for him to visit markets to get stock. The Idle Butcher opened on Saturday, July 26, and after their first day, they posted on Facebook, saying: 'What an incredible day it was! We are truly grateful for your visit and appreciate the time you spent with us.' One local resident spoke about how busy the shop has been in its first week of opening and also said that a butcher is a 'nice addition' to Idle village. And judging from the comments on its Facebook page, The Idle Butcher has been a welcome 'addition' to the village. 'Fantastic addition to our lovely little village,' said one man. 'Sure you'll do well!' 'Fantastic to see the re-emergence of proper small local businesses,' said one woman. 'Wishing you well - I will be coming to support.' Another woman said: 'I came in this morning, it's a lovely little shop, hope you do well.' Another woman added: 'Good luck in your village venture, I am sure we will become regulars!' One man added: 'Wishing you all the very best! We'll be certainly visiting. It'll be lovely to have a butchers in the village again.'
