The shop opened on March 26th, 2011 as a result of a village parish plan open meeting held in 2006 at which 80% of the people requested a shop. It replaced the original village shop that closed in 1998 because it was no longer viable.

The background:

A small group volunteered to investigate possibilities and we turned to The Plunkett Foundation and The Oxford Rural Community Council for advice and guidance. Several established Community Shops were visited, all of which were extremely obliging and helpful. We then canvassed our 800 plus residents for their views via a comprehensive questionnaire delivered door-to-door and subsequently held a further open meeting where the community was able to buy shares for themselves and their families. Meanwhile, we worked hard to develop our very basic retail knowledge and we even discovered what a business plan is!

Much effort was spent in searching for premises. We finally settled on a new-build rented to us by our local farming estate which at that time was planning farm diversification and the use of redundant farm buildings. This new build gave us free reign with planning, stocking issues and achieving our vision. Our committee consisted of multi-skilled people from the village who guided us through the maze of grant applications and legal formalities. We continue to this day with a committee to be proud of. If there were to be a ‘Best Shop Committee’ competition, we would hope to win! We employed local tradesmen, builders and craftsmen, and even the aprons were made locally.

Originally, we had a small seating area for people to sit and chat over coffee made in a coffee making machine. Other local shops then jumped onto our coffee shop bandwagon (and improved their offering of other goods, negatively impacting on our turnover), so the huge decision was taken to open our own bespoke café. We were fortunate enough to benefit from ‘Power to Change’ lottery money and the local Greenham Common match-funded donations, plus donations from locals keen to support our expanding business.

We succeeded in keeping the shop open during construction, thanks to the good will and sense of humour of staff, volunteers and customers!

In 2016 the new café and kitchen opened, alongside a much needed customer loo. At the same time, we upgraded our chillers and display shelving, creating the beautiful shop that you see today.