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  • Shop opening times
  • Mon
  • 08.00 - 13.00
  • Tue - Fri
  • 08.00 - 18.30
  • Sat
  • 08:30 - 15:00
  • Sun
  • 09:00 - 12:00
  • Post Office opening times
  • Tue
  • 09.00 - 15.00
  • Wed - Fri
  • 09.00 - 13.00

The store's the core

Sulgrave Village Shop - a community owned enterprise

Throughout the country, village shops have been closing, victims of the relentless rise of supermarkets and changing social patterns. The shop, the post office, the pub and the parish church, cornerstones of village life, have all been under pressure from the centralising and rationalising tendencies of government and big business. Slowly, over many years, amenities and services have been disappearing from our rural communities, compromising the very fabric of village life.

Rural revolution

However, in September 2004, the residents of a small village in Northamptonshire fought back.

The people of Sulgrave decided that the presence of a shop and post office in the village was vital to the social welfare of the community. It took nearly two years to conceive, plan and carry out the restoration and conversion of a small listed building into a village shop at the heart of the community.

... we all want to change the world

Sulgrave Village Shop promotes community engagement much more than your average Tesco Metro. Owned and run as a non-profit co-operative

by Sulgrave's residents, the shop is a pioneering enterprise, not just in the UK, but across the globe.

Building a local economy

The community owned village shop promotes the benefits of local shopping whilst supporting local food producers and local enterprise. The shop is an inspiring example of local people developing their own community economy, regenerating redundant buildings and contributing to an improved quality of rural life.

Sulgrave Village Shop is proving to be a successful business model for the survival of rural retailing and an important component in the provision of services to rural communities. One of the cornerstones of village life is being sustained.

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