what is a community shop?
Community shops are owned and run democratically by members of their community, for community benefit.
Community shops often go beyond providing basic retail provisions, and provide a wide range of additional services, such as post offices and cafés. Community shops are an effective mechanism for safeguarding essential retail outlets in rural areas, but they also have wider social, economic and environmental benefits. Community shops particularly benefit those who are disadvantaged by lack of personal transport or limited physical mobility.
Community shops engage large numbers of the community and stimulate social activity and community cohesion. They support local producers and suppliers and create employment and opportunities for volunteering within the community – on the shop floor and behind the scenes. Motivated volunteers can bring a business to life and engage customers.
In addition to sourcing local food with lower food miles, community shops collectively are estimated to save 4 million miles of car journeys a year.
Community shops are resilient forms of business – the long-term success rate of community shops is 94% (by 2017, only 24 have closed since records began in 1992), and the five-year survival rate is 94% compared to the estimated small business UK rate of 41%.
Community shops are often a lifeline to many other nearby settlements, and on average, provide services to between three and four additional villages. Therefore, an estimated 1,400 rural communities are benefiting from the 346 community shops currently trading across the UK.
key facts
There were 363 community shops trading in the UK in 2019.
Averaging at around 20 volunteers per shop, the sector has a workforce of around 6,000‑7,000 volunteers
The majority of community shops have between 100 and 300 members/shareholders
In 2018 the long term survival rate of community shops was 94%
28% of community shops manage to donate surplus profit to charity or community projects.
(*all data referenced to Plunkett Foundation “Community Shops – A better form of business 2019).
Community shops require a legal entity to protect the individuals running the business by giving them ‘limited liability’, and to ensure they are compliant with legal necessities such as tax, insurance, trading standards and employment rights. The Shaw and Whitley Community Hub is registered as a Community Benefit Society, and is governed by a set of model rules. A Community Benefit Society can issue community shares, so that its members can also become shareholders; the model rules set the framework for this and ensure:
Open and voluntary membership
A management committee drawn from members of the community
The community clearly represented with the majority of members coming from it and having a genuine say in how the business is run, with one member one vote
An asset lock ensuring the business assets must be used for community benefit
Trading should meet the community’s identified needs and represent a long term commitment
A commitment to re investing profits in the local community