The purchase of the shop building has now been completed. Peter Marriage is the new owner and Bishop Wilton Community Shop Ltd has entered into an agreement to lease it from him on the favourable terms we communicated earlier.
We would like to formally thank Alek, Wendy and Peter for creating this wonderful opportunity for Bishop Wilton to have a community shop.
Those of you who applied to buy shares now officially own those shares. You are all listed on the Bishop Wilton Community Shop Ltd Share Register. This is a secure document which we are obliged to hold and is proof of your share holding. Share certificates, although not a legal requirement, will be sent to you soon.
Whilst waiting for the purchase to complete we have been busy progressing other things to try and minimise the delay in opening the shop. Our planning permission application for the change to the shop frontage has already been approved.
We are clearing out fittings from the old shop today and the building work/refurbishment starts tomorrow.
We are currently researching and selecting suppliers and products for the shop which is no small task! We intend to stock the essentials as well as some special ranges from local suppliers. We always welcome any suggestions on this matter both now and once we are open – although we might not be able to please all of the people all of the time – we will do our best!
Considerable progress has also been made with the numerous compliance requirements and putting together a volunteer training schedule. We will be holding a series of volunteer meetings and training sessions starting at the end of September – if you have already volunteered we will let you know the schedule very soon. If you have not already volunteered but would like to do so please let us know.
As well as working on getting the shop up and running we are also hoping to organise some events through the autumn. The first of these is planned for September 28th, when we will be holding an Apple Pressing Event at the pub in conjunction with one of our potential local suppliers – save the date and watch this space for more info on this.
We intend appointing a part time (probably up to 20 hours paid) Shop Manager who will receive a wage once the shop has opened. If you think you might be interested in this role and would like more information please get in touch no later than Monday 16th September.
This is all very exciting news but there is still a huge amount of work to be done before we can open the shop. Please do not hesitate to let us know if you can help in any way.