More news from the shop on the next page.
Village Shop News Update
Telephone – 01295 760066
I’m delighted to bring you more good news about your Village Shop & Post Office! Our takings for January & February 2012 were ahead of the same weeks in 2011 in 6 out of 8 weeks; an overall increased performance of 2.4% so thank you again to you all for your custom & support!
I said in the last Newsletter that the Management Committee were planning on delivering against 3 things this year & I’d like to give you a quick update on them:
1. Locally sources, fresh local produce
David & Joanna are working hard to ensure that the fruit & vegetables that we have in stock match their seasonality.
We now have in stock a range of hand made, home cooked pies from Elliotts of Towcester. If you haven’t tried their pork pies or chicken & ham pies then, as a ‘pie aficionado’, I can thoroughly recommend them; they are quite simply delicious & great value for money!
We have a new range of Gourmet Cookies from Borders in 6 flavours; again a real treat for morning coffee, tea or when you fancy treating yourself.
New for the week ends are our freshly baked, almond croissants. Why not try them with a cup of our Grumpy Mule coffee?
Finally, David has asked me to remind you to get your orders into him for Bread over the Easter period. We get deliveries of fresh bread from our baker every Saturday morning so don’t miss out!
2. New computer system
This really is an essential change to the Shop so that we can become more responsive to the way in which we serve you, our Customers. Debit & credit card payments are very much the norm these days & we have narrowed our preferred choice of system down to 2. I hope that I’ll be able to tell you more in the next Newsletter.
3. Broadening awareness of the Shop & Post Office
I’m delighted to say that we have agreed a joint promotion with Will & Mandy at The Star which will run throughout April as a thank you to everyone for your continued support. More details are shown in the separate feature; I do hope that you’ll enjoy the benefit of the offer! This is the first initiative of this kind for both businesses & we feel that a collaborative approach for our community will create stronger awareness.
We’ll all be aware of the increases in fuel prices; they effect us all. I did a quick calculation of the cost to make a round trip to Middleton Cheney. I know, it’s sad but I think that it’s important that people are aware of these costs because it makes the Shop all the more attractive. At today’s prices, a petrol car will cost around £2.15 & a diesel car around £1.75 for the 12 mile journey.
Finally, the Management Committee wanted to express a HUGE vote of thanks to Geoff Ratley & Town & Country Builders for their support in providing free of charge maintenance work for the Shop. Some of you may have noticed that the plaster in the Shop has been attended to which will allow us to complete the re-decoration. Geoff completed this work for us & I know that he’d be delighted to hear from villagers & your friends should you need any building or maintenance work around the home. He can be contacted on 01295 760929. Back in February when the snow fell, our gutters needed some attention at the front of the building; Town & Country stepped forward & completed this work for us. Again, I’m sure that they would be delighted to hear from you if you need any work around the home particularly if yours is one of the older buildings in the village. They can be contacted on 01295 710181
Thank you again everyone.
‘Mac’ Macdonald