St Germans Community Shop and Post Office

This project came about and was born in Oct 08 when the owner of local village shop announced she was retiring, this effectively gave 3 months notice that the village stood to lose the only shop in the immediate vicinity.

 The population were so concerned at the thought of losing this amenity, having previously suffered the closure of the pub for an 18 month period, that over a 100 attended the next parish council meeting. Liz Aubrey-Fletcher (wife of the then Estate Manager) and Vicki White had gone to the trouble of doing some initial research into the mechanics of opening a Community Shop; thought to offer the best solution. Encouraged by the turn out, a willingness to act and driven on by a fear of losing the only shop in a 3 mile radius, a committee was formed and the process began in earnest. It was immediately apparent that the best site for any new shop was close to the pub (in fact opposite it and next to the old shop) – this had always acted as the hub of the village. It also has the advantage of offering safe parking. It was discovered that funding would be available via grants, but that many of these sources demanded ‘matched funding’. A questionnaire was prepared to find out what the villagers wanted from the new enterprise. The village was determined to show its commitment to the project and self-funding was initiated by the issue of £10 shares, restricted to one per person, to date, over 200 have been sold; this, together with help from a band of volunteers, has helped enormously with the funding issue. 

 A series of weekly committee meeting ensued and by the time of the second general meeting in Dec 09 (a year on from the closure) a Business Plan and Constitution had been prepared and an informative website built – to be used in future as part of the ‘marketing strategy’. The committee were pleased to report the lease on the property had been secured from St Austell brewery and plans had been drawn up for renovation work and submitted to the planning authority. From the feedback received a ‘mission statement’ clearly outlined the shop’s wider purpose, approach and sourcing philosophy would be. It is clear that this would be more than simply a ‘retail outlet’.

 

The bulk of funding has come from the Plunkett Foundation through a combination of grant and loan. The foundation has plenty of experience in handling such requests and has helped many similar communities set up shops throughout the country. Local organisations and residents have also been most generous.

 

There are only 3 other community shops in Cornwall; at Blisland, Landreath and Crafthole .   

This project would not have been possible without the many people who worked tirelessly (and for free) behind the scenes; their valuable contributions cannot be underestimated.  From early on David Geeves has been a great help and a font of retail knowledge. David successfully runs his own shop on the outskirts of St Austell and was a member of ViRSA (now subsumed as part of Plunkett Foundation), he has been able to offer advice on starting up and running a retail business. He intends to stay on and steer the shop through the ‘waters’ ahead .

 

Professional help has been provided by Hugo De Rijke (legal) and Faye Fraser-Allden (architect). On the practical side of converting the space Dave Bennett as Project Manager and Chief Builder with specialist help from Dean Osborne (electrician) and Mike Eastment (plumber) have done an extraordinary job on a very tight budget and strict Post Office requirements. Help and encouragement has come from many quarters including Sue Prowse, from the former shop next door, who has donated some of the fixture and fittings. St Austell Brewery have also been very supportive throughout the project and the committee are grateful to Gary Walters, the Postmaster of the neighbouring village of Menheniot for taking on the role of ‘parent’ to our sub-Post Office.

 

Sarah Dawe has been appointed as the part-time manager - mornings. She will be dependant upon a small army of volunteers, which presently boasts 22 in the ranks, to fill in the other hours - afternoons. The village is only too aware that the success of the project rests not just on local people using the shop but actively engaging on a further level and assisting in the’ hands on’ role of actually running the business – this is the ‘community’ element in he shop’s title. The committee have every confidence that the village will rally to the call and fulfil its earlier promises of support.

 

The committee wish to thank Lady St Germans for kindly agreeing to open the shop, Tony and Jane Codling the new landlord/lady of the Eliot Arms for helping host today’s event and our local suppliers for providing the fare for the food tasting.