Village shops: Can they be saved?

Greg Miller of Farmoor Stores Radical changes in the way people now shop, such as on-line ordering and round-the-clock superstores, mean that just a handful of the population rely on a village store as their main retail outlet.

Research shows that we buy 70 per cent of our food from supermarkets and that 75 per cent of us go shopping by car. It means that village stores are finding it difficult to survive.

Villagers in Ducklington, near Witney, lost their shop earlier this year. There is no sign that it will ever reopen and villagers are now forced to use a Tesco filling station as their convenience store for newspapers and light grocery items.

Pensioner Gordon Clack, 71, who has lived in Ducklington since 1966, says: "It was a sad loss for the village when the shop closed. We still miss it. There has always been some sort of shop here but now our nearest shop is at the petrol station.

"It's all right for people who are independent and who have a car but not everyone does of course. It's a great shame."

The decline of services in rural areas has become endemic over the past decade.

But rather than reducing services in the countryside many, including Prince Charles, say now is an ideal time to plough more money into them and breathe new life into rural areas.

Farming has gone through its hardest decade for centuries with BSE and foot and mouth plunging the industry into crisis. This has resulted in a dramatic fall in farming jobs which has coincided with the rise of the dormitory village, populated by wealthy professionals who work miles away.

Though many of these commuters have moved to the country in pursuit of the rural idyll, they still want all the advantages of city living.

They don't want a village store that closes before they have even left the office. Instead they would rather stop off at a superstore on the way home so they can pick up a pint of milk and maybe a ready-cooked meal.

But this still leaves the true villagers - many of them elderly - who need shops nearby and often don't have access to anything other than public transport.

The Oxfordshire Rural Community Council (ORCC), based in Cassington, has thrown a lifeline to village shopkeepers across the region.

In 1998 it set up its Village Shop Development Scheme which offers business advice to shopkeepers and helps them decide how to diversify their services to attract more custom.

As part of the scheme the ORCC has appointed a village shop field worker who travels around the region visiting shopkeepers and teams up with other organisations to hold workshops where shopkeepers can get together, compare notes and learn about how to cope in the current climate.

Community development worker Jackie Simpson says: "We try and encourage people to use their village shop as much as they can.

Village shops provide a meeting place, a focal point for the village.

"Our scheme helps shopkeepers to introduce improvements which will help their businesses."

The council believes the role of many village stores needs to be diversified and they must offer extra services that will attract customers away from the superstores.

Ms Simpson says: "As well as providing a focal point for the community they also have many different roles now. By offering services such as dry cleaning and freshly-made sandwiches, for example, they are able to appeal to a wider range of people.

"The future of village shops is a very important issue. The point is that if people don't use their village shops they will close."

Farmoor Stores, run by Greg Miller, is a shining example of a store which diversified and succeeded.

Mr Miller, who lived in South Africa for 40 years, took over the store seven years ago when he moved here from Johannesburg.

Since then he has dedicated his life to it. He works from 5.30am to 8pm each day. He last had a proper holiday in 1992, although he is planning to take a break in Bournemouth later this summer.

But Farmoor Stores is no longer a typical village shop. Mr Miller has dedicated a third of the store to selling specialised South African foods such as the dried meat biltong.

South Africans living in this country come from all over the South to stock up on their favourite foods and drinks and Mr Miller says the profit he makes on these items is far higher than those he makes on traditional English groceries.

He says: "To survive in this game you need to develop a niche market.

"It is difficult but you have got to try to do something different. This business would be good even without the South African side of things but that certainly makes life easier for us.

"Also, when people come here for biltong or whatever, they often pick up other items like a drink or a sandwich and it all helps.

"It's all about having a bit of imagination. You have to keep your regular customers happy but balance that with something new and different to draw in new trade."

Farmoor Stores also has a small post office in the shop. Mr Miller says if people don't continue to use it frequently, it will become economically unviable.

"Small post offices are coming under increasing pressure. People are being encouraged to pay their bills by direct debit and to get their benefits, pensions and allowances straight into their bank accounts.

"This will inevitably drive many post offices out of business - they cannot withstand that sort of pressure. If I closed the post office and used that space to sell South African goods then I'd probably make more money but I don't want to do that. I see the post office as an important service for the community," he says.

He has seen his profits rise by 15 per cent in the past year, partly thanks to a new car park in front of the store.

Mr Miller was awarded a grant of £1,250 towards the £3,500 cost of the car park by the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council.

Now it is easy for motorists to park, Mr Miller has noticed his passing trade has soared.