“Since the beginning of the Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic we have been doing our best to keep our community provided with essential supplies. Downderry Stores is the only village shop in Downderry, and we are very aware that we serve many older and potentially vulnerable residents for whom the pandemic has posed - and is still posing - a particularly serious challenge. We have also been very mindful of the need to protect our wonderful staff team, who have suddenly found themselves as key workers in a very real way serving on the frontline.

We have tried to do, as much as we can, to create a protective bubble around the village community, while increasing the range of essential supplies to make it less necessary for our customers to travel out of the village to reach supermarkets in neighbouring towns. In the early intense weeks of the lockdown, we took the difficult decision, that we would only serve local residents. The government at the time was seeking to stop all non-essential travel, while closing down visitor destinations and accommodation.

All the way through we have placed very clear signs outside the entrance to our shop politely explaining our policy and asking visitors for understanding and respect for this approach.

As the government has taken steps cautiously to ease the lockdown in recent weeks, all businesses have had to face very difficult decisions about when and how to ease their own operating rules. Our guiding principle has been to protect as best we can both our village residents and our staff. We wanted to be cautious, an approach very much supported by our residents, until finally the government on July 14 said that face masks should be worn in shops.

This government move made it possible for us to resume serving all customers, as long as they agree to observe the 'Covid-safe' rules about social distancing, and as long as they wear face masks. We can only hope that all customers wishing to use Downderry Stores can respect this approach. If they can, they are welcome, and they are playing their part in keeping our village as safe as possible.

We have been overwhelmed by the wave of support we have received from our community for the approach we have taken.”

“The shop is at centre of village life. In particular during the first couple of months of the lockdown it became the absolute lifeline, providing most of the essential supplies needed to keep life going and making it unnecessary to make journeys out to supermarkets 10 miles or more away from the village.

“The shop also very much went the extra mile, providing a service, for example, to collect and deliver medical prescriptions, and also taking the lead in providing and delivering food boxes for needy families in the community in response to a request from the Downderry primary school. The service was paid for by local residents.”

The role played by the shop during the darkest days of the pandemic has recently been recognised by a plaque presented by grateful members of the village in early July.

The plaque says simply, “Thank you Downderry Stores. Kim, Richard and all your wonderful team, you are the hub of our community. Thank you for all your efforts in keeping us safe and supplied with the essentials of life during the Coronavirus lockdown of 2020. From the residents of Downderry and Seaton.”

“In order to try to reduce the risk of spreading the virus unintentionally and also to protect their staff, Kim and Richard decided the best approach would be to shield the shop by allowing sales only to local residents. It helped provide some peace of mind, especially for older villagers,” said Tina Jefferis, a long-time resident.

The policy was called into question last week by two visitors to Downderry, brothers Graham and Mark Carter, whose unhappiness was reported on the front page of the Cornish Times (July 17, 2020).

The newspaper said, “they were ‘flabbergasted’ to be refused entry to the shop.” Graham was quoted as saying, “I have been coming to Downderry for more than 60 years. I learned to swim here when I was seven.”

The story carried the headline, “SHOP REFUSES CUSTOM OF NON-LOCALS” with a strapline beneath it “Visitors vow never to return.”

“It’s a pity the story was built on the complaint of just two people,” said David Watters, a Downderry resident, “and it failed to report the views of a single person in the village. Equally if a reporter were to have visited the village, he or she would have been able to read the plaque in the shop, which truly reflects the feelings of most locals.”

“Any visitor to the village shop could have seen the approach it was taking by reading the very clear signs at the entrance. If visitors read them and thought about them, there would be no need to be ‘flabbergasted.’ Instead they could just show some respect and understanding for a community and its shop trying to do their best to stay safe in incredibly difficult times.”

The signs have included the words, “Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience as a result of these essential measures and thank you for your understanding during a difficult period. We look forward to resuming our normal services as soon as possible.”

Mr Carter, who told the Cornish Times, “I don’t see how any shopkeeper can decide they don’t need the income,” was given an explanation by Ann Vandermuelen, development manager for FSB Cornwall, the network for small businesses and the self-employed.

“Businesses like this are not just a shop,” she said. “They are the beating heart of the community that they serve. Rather than simply rake in the cash from every passer by, they have thought about the safety of their customers in a village that has been trying to create a safe bubble.

“It does not make business sense to upset anyone,” said Ms Vandermuelen, “and the team at Downderry Stores seems to have gone to great lengths to be totally professional and explain the situation to visitors. This has been met, for the most part, with understanding in such strange and difficult times.”

The owners of the village shop said they had regularly reviewed their policy on how to keep the shop as safe as possible.

“Nothing is perfect, and nothing stays the same. But you have to try,” said Mr James. “The government now says all customers in shops must wear face masks. We revised our policy on July 14 to reflect these guidelines, so we can serve all customers who respect the rules. Downderry is a strong village with a strong ethos of self-help. Neighbours and volunteers are ready to assist the more vulnerable, and our shop has been in the forefront of that effort.

“With these new guidelines in place, Downderry Stores is more than ready to welcome back old visitors and new. And we ask all customers to be patient and respect our attempts to stay as safe as we can.”

ENDS.

For contact: Laura Done, Chair, Downderry & Seaton Residents Association (DaSRA)

Tel: 01503 250911 email: info@dasra.co.uk