| County | Wiltshire, South West |
|---|---|
| Postcode | SN16 9TJ |
| Opened | 1996 |
| Post Office | Yes |
| Management | Managed plus volunteers |
| Legal | ViRSA IPS model rules |
| Premises | Previous shop |
View a map of where to find us
7am - 5.30pm Monday to Friday
7am - 1pm Saturday
8am - 11am Sunday
9am - 12.30pm Monday to Saturday
http://www.oaksey.com/resource/resource_frameset.asp?url=/resource/village_shop/index.htm
· Newspapers and magazines, pre-ordering and delivery to your door if required (Oaksey)
· Stationary
· General groceries including fresh bread daily (pre-ordering is available)
· Frozen food
· Selection of Specialist Teas from the Wiltshire Tea Company
· Selection of mustards, chutneys and jellies from Tracklements
· Local Wiltshire Honey
· Wide selection of chocolate confectionary, and the Easter theme has arrived!
· Laundry and dry cleaning service and shoe repair service
· Photo developing service
· General household repair items
· CD''s and Videos on sale
· Wines, spirits and soft drinks
· Specialist soft drinks from the Green Bottle company
· Seeds
· Post Office
· Pet foods, treats and bedding
· Children''s Toys
· A wide selection of gifts for all ages, including a hand made wooden craft selection
· Cards for all occasions
Last year we nearly lost our village shop and post office. We were saved by an article in Farmer’s Weekly!
Oaksey, seven miles from Malmesbury in rural Wiltshire, has an adult population of about 360. For many years its Post Office and General Store has been in a small detached single-storey stone building in the village street.
At Christmas 1995 the owners who had been running it for six years gave three months notice to terminate their post office contract on 27 March 1996 and announced that the shop would also close on that date. The shop had been running down for some time, with reduced opening hours and dwindling stocks. This is the only shop in the village. Most people use it to some extent but do their main shopping in the supermarkets. The Post Office is used quite a lot, particularly by pensioners. During January 1996 a few residents determined to save the shop began to put a few ideas together, but – having not heard of ViRSA – desperately needed someone to turn for guidance. Then, by a lucky chance, we read in Farmers Weekly about a Welsh village which had overcome a similar crisis, thanks to ViRSA. So we had our lifeline! A well-attended Village Meeting in Oaksey on 12 February gave overwhelming support to a rescue plan and appointed an action group to carry it out.
The inflexible March 27 deadline was a nightmare. So much to do, so little time in which to do it. But with ViRSA’s invaluable help, we made it. A second village meeting on 25 March was held to inform the village that the rescue plan had been successful. Oaksey Village Shop Association (OVSA) had been formed, using ViRSA’s model constitution; every villager was invited to buy a share. The outgoing owners had agreed to sell the shop separately from the adjoining house where they lived. OVSA had bought the shop with funds raised within the village by donations and interest-free loans. The post office contact had been renewed. A tenant for the shop had been selected: Colleen Willis, with previous shop experience and already living in the village with her husband and children. And about 57 other insoluble problems had been addressed and overcome!
The previous owners had moved out on 27 March and Colleen opened for business the following morning. Shortly afterwards we had a formal opening by Lord Oaksey which attracted wide media coverage and many letters, including some from overseas.
The change has been dramatic. The shop is open from 7am to 9pm, Monday to Saturdays, and from 8am to 2pm on Sundays. There is a new atmosphere – busy, efficient and cheerful. Stocks and turnover have increased. The shop is attracting new customers from outside the village. A questionnaire circulated to all residents has produced many new ideas to which Colleen has responded. New initiatives include locally grown produce (and free range local turkeys at Christmas!), more delicatessen items, fresh flowers and pot plants, a newly commissioned village picture postcard, and a newspaper delivery service. Shop news is a regular feature in Oaksey’s monthly parish magazine.
Colleen has full operational responsibilities as shop tenant and sub-postmistress. She is supported by a small OVSA committee which has also, thanks to an interest-free loan, recently replaced the fascia board, the main shop door and all the windows. More capital improvements are planned by OVSA when funds permit.
The shop remains at the heart of our village community, a place where people meet and information and gossip are exchanged.
Article from Talking Shop, Issue Seven, Spring 1997
Article by Valerie Price, Secretary of the Oaksey Village Shop Association.
01666 577197
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