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Shop Newsletter 9-Sep-2011
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09-Sep-2011
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Thriplow Shop
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Thriplow Shop
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Hi
Back to school and some kind of normality, so let's go with our news:
1. August was fantastic for the shop
2. Thanks to everyone who helped us
3. Crop for the Shop is growing
4. Coming soon
5. 150 Club news
1. August. We sold £12,900 in goods last month, there were no special activities or promotions going on. August last year was only just over £11,000 and so we grew our worst month of the calendar year by 17%. It's 50% up on what we took 3 and 4 years ago! We have noticed that people from surrounding villages are coming in more regularly - some of them will be reading this newsletter as they too have signed up! It is truly great that we did so well in August because in previous Augusts, we would lose a lot of the money that we had made in previous months. This August we only lost a bit of money - mainly due to the problems we had with our milk fridge that cost us over £250 to fix. We look forward to the rest of the year now with optimism.
2. A big thanks to everyone that helped out. The list is huge - our summertime staff consisted of Sue, Keith, Jenny (assisted by volunteer husband David), Olivia and Emma and we tried to keep paid staff doing the work. It didn't always work out though and quite a number of volunteers came to do their shifts during the week as well as on Sundays. It was a tricky rota to organise as the holiday season took over but we made it without any loss of shop open hours - we normally close at 5pm over the summer but this year we kept to full hours. We can't pay them much but we can be hugely grateful to our staff. The volunteers get paid even less!!! But we love them and as we've said before, we probably wouldn't be able to open on Sunday without this little band - if you want to try the Sunday job out, let us know and we'll train you up. Also a big thanks to everyone who has subscribed to the shop - your £10 contributions have amassed a total of £1,200 - again a new record!! Judy is on holiday at the moment and doesn't know the final total yet, so if you haven't got your certificate, she'll get it to you on her return. And thanks to Judy for her hard work in managing this process.
3. We have been overwhelmed with the Crop for the Shop offerings this summer. In addition to the fantastic potatoes from Robert Smith (which we have been able to sell at knock down prices), we've had apples, damsons, plums, beans, pears, chillies, lettuces, courgettes, cucumbers and greengages. All of these are grown in the village so they are fresh and usually organic. We're still open for other offerings so if your veg plot has been over-productive this year, we'll be happy to sell your surplus - just bring it in!
4. Coming soon. We're about to get a wine club round going, so watch out for that - I'll send the list out as soon as I get it from Noel Young. We have to apologise for the lack of Organic Loaves, which we know some of you are very keen on. There has been a problem at the factory and its about 5 weeks since we have been able to order any. We thought it would be back to normal quickly but it seems to be taking time. Instead we are trying out White Bloomers, Cheese Loaves and Small Brown Split Tin Loaves. Give them a try and if they are popular, we can keep stocking them.
5. 150 Club. The lucky winner of the £50 first prize last month was Jo Fisher. For those who don't know, there is £110 in prizes given away each month for a monthly outlay of £1.25 for each number. We start a new year in November so we are starting to collect next year's stakes in the shop now, with priority given to those who had numbers last year and who want to keep their numbers. It is £15 for the year for each number. If we can sell more than 150 numbers, we will increase the prizes again. Next time you are in the shop, please ask if you can buy your numbers. The next draw will be in the Green Man on Tuesday 20th September, about 8pm. Come and join us.
TVSA
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