A brave attempt fails – so a village shop closes

THE Wilstone village stores will cease trading and close its doors on Saturday 29th August at 1pm. After six months of trading, this marks the end of a valiant attempt to make the shop a viable proposition. Tim and Jenny re-opened the village shop in March and have worked hard to make a go of it, but the numbers don’t stack up and they cannot continue. We reported in our June edition that the experiment in selling newspapers had not worked, and that turnover would need to increase by 40% to make the shop pay. Although initial results were promising, sales did not improve as the months went by. Tim told Village News that he and Jenny were very sorry that their plans for the shop had not worked out, and that regular customers would be disappointed. He said: “We have enjoyed being in Wilstone. We have met and made friends with many people in the village and surrounding area and they have been valued customers of the shop. With great regret we have taken the decision, none too lightly or easily, to close the shop for financial reasons. Thank you to all our customers, and we wish them all the best for the future.” Although there were regular customers for the shop, it would appear there were not enough of them for a chance of success.