Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Cawdor Village Stores no more? But anyone got a village business idea? There's £400,000 for the taking!

A real shame the shop has closed. I see that from the Nairnshire that perhaps someone else may get involved or in the long term a new shop might emerge elsewhere in the village as it is or may be in the future. Maybe the co-op could buy it and really go for Nairnshire monopoly status instead of being the main players in the town only.
The Doc has given us a link that may be of some use to the citizens of Cawdor if they wanted to come up with a business idea for their community.
'The search is on for six UK villages with a great business idea that will bring new life and energy to their communities. The best ideas will receive funding of up to £400,000 each from the Big Lottery Fund.
We're also looking for six Village Champions, enterprising individuals who will work with the successful villages to launch and run their brand new businesses.
Their stories will be followed for a major primetime series for BBC One in winter 2010.'
The deadline for all applications is 14th August 2009.'

More details here.

If someone had a cracking business plan I'm sure the beeb would go to Cawdor in a flash, the Gurnmeister knows the village and Castle really well and there's no shortage of characters up there. A Cawdor community soap would offer so much and hold the nation spellbound, the mouth waters at the prospect...

5 comments:

dr-grigor said...

I think Cawdor would be an ideal candidate for this, The new venture should not only include an outlet for groceries but a community run shop where there could be room for sale of local arts and crafts and food stuffs
a small cafe perhaps with internet access for visitors and locals,

I really hope someone from cawdor reads this and looks in to it as a possible chance to do something special for there village !

Anonymous said...

I would imagine the stores in Cawdor would be an excellent investment opportunity, especially with the new development in mind.

Something especially for someone looking for an idyllic retreat to set up a business?

Either way, I wouldn't expect it to stay closed for very long. Not if it's being properly advertised. :)

- Brian

Anonymous said...

It is a shame that the only shop in the village has closed. The proprietor Jayne Macintosh has worked hard to try and expand the shop over the years to draw in custom, but clearly trade has died with factors such as the loss of the Post Office franchise. Although the castle attracts many tourists, Cawdor village and the shop are not such popular attractions and trade at the shop was mainly made up of locals.
I note that there is interest in carrying on the business in the short term, but I doubt a shop will be sustainable until the new Cawdor village is built.
I suspect Cawdor estates would be glad to entertain any new interest in the premises, and would fully support a new tenant.

Anonymous said...

I am sure the decision to close the shop was not an easy one, clearly made for the proprieter by way of daily takings no doubt.

I wonder if there would be anything to gain for local farmers to open a joint venture for their produce, obviously seasonal and probably similar to Hardmuir.

Not that I am an expert or even have a clue really but I would just love to support local farmers and any of their produce.

I can only wish..!!

Jane Harkiss said...

Steer well cleer of the meedja. They only want to zoom in on abject failure. Not interested in boringly 'fairly successful' stories. Or maybe Pookie is just getting a bit cynical in her semi-retired years? X