Enter the debate on Community Shop Membership
In June this year, the Plunkett Foundation organised a national networking event for community owned shops at which 25 community shop representatives were present. A motion was put forward for a national membership scheme to be created with Community Shops in the driving seat and Plunkett administering the scheme.
The rational for membership is to provide community shop members with a greater voice, strategic input into the services that Plunkett offers, and greater purchasing power with suppliers of services, products and equipment. With the 250th community owned shop due to open later this Autumn, there has never been a more relevant time for a national membership scheme to be created, and especially in this economic climate.
To get a membership scheme off the ground which offers relevant incentives and is accessible to all community shops, a steering group has come together consisting of six community shops and two representatives from the Plunkett Foundation. A postcard will shortly be sent to all community shops to ask you what is important to your community shop What support does your shop requireto reduce costs, grow sales, increase profitability – how can Plunkett help in this endeavour, and what specifically could a membership scheme offer you? Please complete and return these postcards to us to ensure your views are heard.
Please also reply to the forum topic on this issue to share your views on the Forum with other community shops and the membership steering group.
Remember, your opinion is important as membership can maximise all our synergies to ensure that we can on your behalf
- promote community owned shops to funders and policy makers
- reduce running costs of community shops
- share best practice and performance data
- gain access to information and support
We look forward to hearing your views...
I would be strongly in favour of such a scheme - it needs a strong "political" leadership if matters that are key to community shops are to be heard and acted upon. Much can be done ourselves but areas such as approvals, registrations, returns, licencing, and the like need the external influences. Funding is another issue - much time is taken up with what often prove to be wasted efforts. Much more openness from funders, trusts and others with perhaps (maybe this is going too far!!!) some commonality on application forms!! Even local authorities who after all must have a vested interest in local commerce, can make the hoops smaller and the fences bigger just to get the wherewithall to keep a local community shop open.
Bryan Casbourne
Mortimer Country Stores