As we come to near the end of our 3rd year trading as a village owned store we have been pleasantly surprised that our sales volumes remain strong in spite of people having more choices and better experiences from supermarkets than earlier in the year. We like to think this is as a result of people who have discovered what a fabulous village asset we are and that we have a surprisingly diverse but affordable number of things they want or need.
We are seeing some of our traditionally stocked brands return to our suppliers and expect to see a shift during August to restock these and discontinue the temporarily stocked versions we have had. We are pleased to welcome back some of our paid staff and volunteers who had been previously isolating, and seen some of our temporary volunteers depart. The shop continues to offer a sanitiser station at the shop entrance, please note that from July 24th it will become a legal requirement for customers to wear face coverings in the store, the staff are not required to wear a face covering.
Now that some manufacturing businesses are starting to re-open we are hopeful the long awaited shop awning may arrive and provide shelter for goods and customers in sunny or rainy conditions while enhancing the overall look of the shop front. As we expect the shopping environment to remain as is, with queuing at busy times becoming the norm, we are conscious that some of our customers could use somewhere to rest while waiting, or having shopped, before they set off back home. To that end, if anyone has any unwanted garden benches, picnic tables etc. we could have we will gratefully take one or two to place outside the front of the shop.
Lastly can I please remind any of our customers who use newspaper vouchers to please endeavour to get them to the shop as promptly as possible, it helps us enormously to get them input onto the system before the vouchers are active. It is fine to post them through the front door for those customers isolating.
Jo O’Dell Committee Vice-Chair.