About The Shop
Hello everyone, it’s only been 15 years, so we thought that you all might like to know what’s been happening at the shop, and what’s currently going on.
First off—let’s catch up.
In February 1993, when faced with the closure of their shop, the inhabitants of Ollaberry decided to take action. A meeting was organised by the Community Council in response to local concern Although there was a small store seven miles from the village, Ollaberry residents faced the prospect of a 20 - 30 mile round trip to buy any fresh fruit and vegetables.
The turn-out at the public meeting was high and a steering committee was formed with a view to trying to buy the shop as a community but this plan was abandoned when it was valued at well below the figure the owners were expecting. In the absence of any other suitable premises to lease, buy or convert, a new build quickly turned out to be the only other viable option.They discovered that if they formed a co-operative and raised funds locally they could secure match funding of up to £10,000 from Highlands and Islands Enterprise and this seemed the perfect solution. To raise the cash required, local people were asked to buy shares in the new co-op at £50 a time. In all, with a combination of grants, and loans, which they are still paying back, they raised about £120,000, formulated a business plan and took a lease on a local authority industrial site in the village. As a fully fledged co-operative, they also got in touch with The Co-operative Group (then known as CWS) to see how it could help.
The shop was fitted out with shelves and fridges by CWS (now the Co-operative Group) who also helped with the range of products. Ollaberry is a corporate member of the Co-operative Group, which means it can sell Co-op Brand products and make use of the CWS distribution system. The shop, which employs several local staff, opened in October 1995 and has been a rip-roaring success ever since.
The Committee continue to work towards improving services to the community and continue to ensure that there are opportunities for local people to train and work in the shop.
Further Information
The link below takes you to the Ollaberry shop section of the Community Retail Network website which is fairly detailed and has a fair few photos and gives further info on our links to the Co-op and the community network.
http://www.communityretailing.co.uk/shops/shetland/ollaberry-community-co-op/information.html