New owners to invest big in village shop

Guilsfield’s popular village shop and Post Office services will be closing for a fortnight on February 14, with the new owners promising big things when it reopens.

The ‘bottom shop’ has been a part of Guilsfield life for decades, but its new owners are promising customers that they will be serviced by an improved and upgraded store from February 28.

“We take ownership on February 14 and we’re closing it immediately for refurbishment,” said Craig Bourne, a local lad with extensive experience of the retail trade.

“Whilst it is closed, we are going to replace the shop front, sign and window graphics, lighting and the handrail. We are also going to do a bit of general maintenance and tidying up the frontage.

“Internally we are changing everything except the floor. We are replacing the counter and relocating it a better spot to allow for better queueing and easier access for the Post Office.

“We are having all new fixtures and fittings, including shelving, energy efficient remote refrigeration with doors, upright freezers, new suspended ceiling with energy efficient LED light panels.”

Craig has promised a bigger variety of products, many of which will be locally sourced with environmentally friendly options like loose fruit and veg and fresh milk in glass bottles. He will also be working with a “very popular local butcher that everyone will be familiar with”.

He is also hoping to provide more services to reach a wider range of customers.

“We are introducing food to go, coffee and fresh baked bread, and several new categories specifically designed to appeal to our younger customers that we believe are a bit neglected in the store at the moment.

“Although we won’t be able start immediately, we also have plans to start a local delivery service for those people struggling to get to us.”

Craig accepts that the closure of the Post Office services for a fortnight will cause disruption explained: “We know the closure of the store and Post Office will inconvenience the local customers for the two weeks we are out of action, but you can’t do a modernisation of this scale without some disruption.

“The Post Office is recommending that customers use the branches at Welshpool or Meifod and we hope that the shop customers would continue to support other local independent stores close by.”