Stokeinteignhead Community Shop
A co-operatively-run village shop which is helping to revitalise the local community has won this year’s Prince of Wales Award, granted by the Devon County Agricultural Association (DCCA) and presented at the Devon County Show.
The Community Shop at Stokeinteignhead has become a hub of village life, since it was re-opened as a co-operative by a group of villagers, after the original shop and post office closed in 2008. It now stocks a full range of groceries, newspapers and locally produced bread, vegetables, eggs, meat and fish products, as well as a number of local ‘deli’ products. Around 25% of total sales meet the 'Making Local Food Work' criteria - not bad when staples such as newspapers and milk have to come from further afield, and many non-food products are stocked.
And almost as important is the opportunity which it provides for villagers to share gossip, keep up to date with the local news, advertise services and events and do all the things which have traditionally made village shops so important to the communities they serve.
Mervyn Hosking, Chief Executive of the DCCA, said that, out of what had been a record entry for the Award, what had most impressed the judges about the Village Shop was the initiative and commitment show by local people for the benefit of their community. “The shop is expertly run by its voluntary staff, is well presented and provides a focal point for so many local activities that did not have a home when the original shop was forced to close its doors. Stokeinteignhead Community Shop has brought about improvements to the lives of the rural population in a sustainable manner which is exactly what the Prince of Wales Award is all about.”
The shop is run by a Management Committee chaired by David Brown “We found a lot of useful information on the Plunkett Foundation website, who have been a tremendous help throughout, and took it from there. We were fortunate that the owners of the shop also wanted to see it re-open, and we had great support as well from our pub, the Church House Inn, the Parish Council, School and of course from the local people.”
“If anyone wants to know what the Big Society ought to look like, then they’ll find it alive and well and living in the village of Stokeinteignhead.”
The Community Shop co-operative has 250 local shareholders and is manned by 32 volunteers, each working a shift of two or three hours, once or twice a week, under the guidance of the only paid employee, Shop manager Tara Riggs.
Since it re-opened in 2009, the shop has hit its financial targets, and is currently trading 25% above last year. Although David is anxious to emphasise that aim is to break even, not to make a profit: “Our shareholders are our customers, so there’s no point in robbing Peter to pay Paul. The fact that we use volunteers to man the shop keeps costs down and makes us competitive on price with supermarkets in nearby towns, especially if you count the saving which villagers can make on their petrol. There is only one bus a week and everywhere is uphill from Stokeinteignhead!”
But the benefits of the shop, which so impressed the Prince of Wales Award judges, go even wider than that: “The success of the shop has given the whole community a sense of self-confidence and positive achievement”, says David, “having fought and won a battle together against the odds”.