Advice and Information

Community ownership has become an increasingly recognised solution to rural shop closures across the UK and is often the only viable option for villages wishing to retain or introduce a local shop. The Plunkett Foundation is the only national organisation supporting community owned rural shops, and it is an important part of the Foundation's work. We have a dedicated team based at the Plunkett Foundation, as well as regional Community Retail Advisers, and we work in partnership with and alongside other local organisations to offer advice and support. Specifically, we can support communities to set up new community shops as well as working with established community shops to enable them to become more profitable and sustainable via:

• Start-up Funding
• Bespoke Business and Retail Support
• Peer to Peer Mentoring between Community Shops
• Online Forum, Community Shop Directory and Resources

These Advice Sheets have been published to support communities through the stages of setting up a community shop from the initial community idea, through to successful trading guidance for established shops. They are organised in themes to take a community through the background of each issue, provide advice and guidance, links to practical guides and templates, and signposts to organisations and websites for further information.

Using the Advice Sheets

The advice sheets are separated in to three main sections, according to the stage of a shop's development. Click the links below to download each of the three documents in PDF format.

At the end of each advice sheet, the Further Information section provides a list of typical templates and resources that you will find hosted on this site. To view these documents, visit the relevant address highlighted underneath the signpost local.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Oxfordshire Rural Community Council who developed many of the original advice sheets, and contributed to this latest edition. We would also like to thank the Big Lottery Fund, who supported the development of this latest edition and the development of the online resource bank of useful templates and tools.