Rosalind Lavington - presenting at the Sourcing Local Conference at Sproughton 6-2-2012

1. Sproughton Community Shop:
a case study.
Rosalind Lavington

2. Former East
Former West store store
& tractor garage
WEST STORE
KITCHEN
VIEWING AREA
VIEWING AREA
Main barn TOILETS
Tithe Barn, Lower Street, Sproughton, Suffolk, IP8 3AA.

3. The old East Store in 2005

4. The contents of the
East Store in 2005

5. New, thicker ply
skin, insulation,
Internal
membranes and
oak
battens
studs
Outer
weatherboard
cladding
View, from above, of sample sections of the barn wall.
Top section: after insulating the barn.
Bottom section: old (original) arrangement.

6. February 2009: insulation
work in progress.

7. The old West Store
and tractor garage

8. The contents of the
West Store in 2009.

10. • 3 miles West of Ipswich
• 80% rural area
• 556 households

11. Ian Toye at our Local Food Fair

14. Where are we now?
● 32 volunteers
● 2 part-time paid managers
● Direct sourcing from 30 local producers
● Several more indirectly from Shire Foods
● Minimum orders
● Turnover £87k, of which local foods = 27% = £23.5k
● c 650 lines of stock valued at c £6k
● c £5k p.a. direct from Traidcraft
● Food- intolerance range
● BOGOFs
● Standard wholesalers

15. To meet the needs of our community,
we have learned:
● The power of brands.
● Organic is not important.
● Vegetables are a nightmare – we need to develop
a veg box scheme to promote turnover.
● Running a shop creates endless paperwork.
● Apply for every grant available – evidence base.
Our first principle is to remain profitable.
We find that Local Food is key.

16. www.sproughtoncommunityshop.co.uk

17. Rosalind.Lavington@googlemail.com
www.sproughtoncommunityshop.co.uk