A CAMPAIGN backed by hundreds of people to save a village store has welcomed the laying of a ‘shop in a box’.

A shop in Broughton could have been lost after Bob and Judith Gillespie, who own West View Stores, decided to retire after 16 years.

But on Friday, August 3, residents and campaign committee members turned out to watch the new village shop be lowered onto the forecourt of the village hall.

After 18 months of looking at a variety of options, the committee of passionate villagers decided that a shipping container would be a perfect base.

Julia Jenkins, co-chair of the Broughton Community Shop committee, said: “A group of people got together and said they couldn’t lose the village shop and over the last 18 months, having sent out questionnaires and done a lot of research, we are going ahead and setting up a community shop.

“It is owned by the community, run by the community, for the benefit of the community.”

To buy the container and get it up and running, the group raised £50,000 with 210 shareholders, mainly village residents, offering to help out.

And others have begun helping to fit out the shop in time for its opening on August 20, the day after West View Stores closes for the final time.

Julia, who runs the committee alongside Jane Tabor, said: “When the container landed it all of a sudden became a reality, we have been talking about it in the third person and now it is a reality - it is really exciting.”

The committee has also been overwhelmed by the number of people willing to volunteer, with 90 offering to help out with anything from serving behind the till to lacing up newspapers and cleaning, but the shop needs more people to come forward.

“We are aiming to open Monday to Friday 8am to 5.30pm, Saturday 8.30am to 12.30pm and Sunday 9.30am to 12.30pm and we have 39 volunteers shifts a week to fill.”

To help the committee get to this stage it has enlisted the help of community shops in Abbots Ann, Goodworth Clatford and Braishfield.

“Without them we wouldn’t have the aspiration we have had. It has all been a steep learning curve as we are all volunteers but we have had a huge amount of support really willing the shop in a box to work,” Julia added.

“We are really grateful for all of the people who have rallied round to support the shop.”

The store will stock the basics, but it is hoped that it will be able to offer supplies from local producers in the future.

However, the container is only a temporary solution as the shop will soon be moved into the extended village hall by mid-2019.

Once the permanent location is open it will also include a post office as the counter at West View Stores will be closed.