Enterprising Communities

• Summary
• A village community faces a crisis
• Support from Enterprising Communities
• Starting up
• Structure of the new shop
• Length of commitment and intensity of support
• A new shop opens
• Benefits to the community
• Wider social impact
• Conclusion
• Key learning points

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Conclusion

People in Melmerby have demonstrated that it is possible for a rural community to create viable local services in a situation where the private sector model has shown market failure.  The community-owned model is creating significant employment, and offers a wide product range and prices that are comparable with town prices and much cheaper than most private sector village shops. The model is replicable and the shop has already been promoted by agencies concerned with rural renewal, and visited by representatives from other communities interested in setting up shops themselves.

The case of the Melmerby Shop also shows how specialist business support provided by Enterprising Communities throughout the development and start-up phrase was an integral part of this success.  This support is more intensive and it was delivered over a longer time period than support available from traditional business support agencies like Business Link.  It is also very skilled in that representatives like Howard Long possess detailed knowledge of social enterprise approaches, an ability to work with groups, and the resources to network groups into other specialist services.