The Shop

The Price Myth

It is a myth that village shops are automatically more expensive than supermarkets. Although few village shops can compete with the special offers and 'loss leaders' of major retailers, on many products we provide much better value. In our case, for example:

• Our cards and stationery are almost all cheaper than major high street retailers, and unlike them we do not raise prices at seasonal periods e.g. Valentine's Day or Mother's Day.
• Because we have a local supplier, our large free-range eggs are just 75p per half dozen; try to find prices like these in the supermarket!
• Our sweets - including 'penny' sweets which are increasingly rare in shops - are as cheap as anywhere else.

Added to which, with the average car costing 20p. per mile to run, by the time you have driven into Shrewsbury to the supermarket and back, you will have spent a couple of pounds even before you have bought anything.

Opening Times

The shop is open from 8.00 to 6.00 on weekdays, and in the morning on Saturday and Sunday. The Post Office is closed on Wednesday afternoon, Saturday afternoon and Sunday.

• Opening Times

At certain times of the year - particularly Bank Holidays and over Christmas - we may open for shorter periods; look out for notices in the shop.

Food Products

The shop is well-stocked with everything from Mars Bars to toilet rolls. Because of space, we cannot stock a wide variety of different brands of product but if you do run out of something you will probably find it on our shelves. If there is something you would like which we don't stock, please ask so we can try to arrange to obtain it for you.

In addition to the basics, we also offer a number of special and unique products:

• Gill's Cakes: Gill continues to create her luxury cakes, from individual slices to whole sponges. Made with the finest ingredients, and with oodles of fruit and chocolate, these are bad for the diet but easy on the pocket, being cheaper than anything you could buy from Marks and Spencer.
• Tanners' Wines: One of the finest wine merchants in the country, Tanners supply us with a range of specially selected wines which we can recommend for a particular occasion, having tried every bottle at some point or other!
• Luxury Ice Cream: Winstones provide us with luxury dairy Cotswald Ice Cream.
• Local produce: Where possible, we source from local suppliers. By buying eggs (from Condover), honey (from Longden during the summer) or fruit and veg (from Shropshire farms) you will be helping the local agricultural economy.
• Whole Foods: Suma supply us with a range of whole foods such as nuts, cereals and dried fruits.
• Fairtrade, Organic and Environmentally Friendly Products: We are increasing our range of ethically produced goods, from Fairtrade tea and coffee to Ecover detergents.

Other Products

A large section of the shop is taken up with our card room. Dot has selected a wonderful range of cards for all events and suitable for all ages. Unlike other many major retailers, we do not increase our prices at seasonal periods such as Valentines' Day or Mothers' Day.

Local artist Jean Samways sells her wonderful watercolour views of Shropshire and the Borders through us.

Services

Other services available in the shop include:

• Newspaper and Magazine Deliveries: To Pulverbatch, Annscroft, Longden and Plealey, with a reserve box in the shop.
• Photocopying: From 5p. per A4 sheet. Black and white only.
• Parcel Collect: If you are expecting a delivery but are not going to be in, why not ask your courier to leave it in the shop for you to collect later.
• Order Service: Phone or list what you would like, and we will do your shopping for you to collect the next day.
• Prescription Box: Pontesbury Surgery run a prescription box through us, where prescriptions for those genuinely unable to get to the surgery can be left and collected.

Newspapers and Magazines

We sell a full range of newspapers and a selection of magazines. We are not allow to order extra quantities of several titles, particularly The Sun, The Daily Mail and The Guardian so if you want a daily paper, you are advised either to place a regular order, or to get in early!

Unfortunately, the delivery of newspapers to us can be erratic, our wholesaler sometimes failing to send a full complement of newspaper supplements, suddenly reducing our regular order, or even failing to send titles altogether. If your newspapers are not available, this is usually due to circumstances entirely beyond our control.