People urged to continue shopping local to help shops like community run village store near Shipston

A national lockdown back in March triggered a significant upturn in sales at Ilmington Community Shop. The number of people offering to help out the volunteer-run convenience store also increased.

While the shop enjoyed a much need boost to its finances, as life slowly returns to normal, they have urged the community to continue shopping local as much as possible.

The residents of Ilmington bought into their community shop back in 2013, two years after its commercially-run predecessor closed.

Some 400 residents — around half of the population —are ‘members’ of the co-operative that runs the shop and café. Between them they pledged an eye-watering £226,000, which added to a £135,000 grant from the Social Investment Business Foundation, allowing them to buy the village’s old Catholic Church.

The shop opened in 2015 and a café followed a year later. Manager, Michele Hall, who lives in Ilmington, is the only paid member of staff with 120 volunteers covering 60 shifts every week, although recruitment is ongoing.

This is a truly local shop, with fruit and vegetables from a supplier in neighbouring Ebrington and bread from Lower Clopton Farm. It even sells cider and gin produced in a tiny distillery in the heart of the village, and during the pandemic, a local seamstress has been making face coverings to sell.

Michele said: “Throughout the height of the first lockdown we were selling more than double the usual number of items every week, that was a considerable and welcome increase.

"Due to the demographic of the village our footfall was actually down because quite a few of our regulars were having to shield. That’s when we started deliveries, which was not something we’d done before, but we felt that it was necessary as a community shop.

“We were also getting people coming in for the first time and they were amazed we had such a big range. Our sales are up on last year as a result, and that has helped to put some money in the coffers, which is useful for maintenance costs.

“We knew that some would go back to how they shopped before, and they did, but others have said they have changed their habits and will buy from us as much as possible from now on.

“The pandemic has changed our way of life, and I think everyone in the village can now really appreciate having a shop on their doorstep, and we hope that’s not just in the short-term.

"We need people to spend a few pounds a week here and then go to the supermarkets for what we don’t have, that way we will continue to thrive.”

Ilmington Community Shop and Café was given £10,000 from the Government’s Small Business Grant Fund (SGBF), which is administered locally by Stratford District Council to help small business owners meet their operating costs.