Copath & Cove Shop Project

Welcome

The Thought Behind the Creation of a Community Shop

For many years, the shop in the corner of Cockburnspath village square was a centre of village life. Following the unexpected closure of the shop due to a bereavement the village was left without any retail or postal services within walking distance of the village. The community quickly got together to look at ways to reinstate retail and post office services in the village. Through a series of well attended public meetings in February 2020, it was established that the overwhelming wish of the community was for a temporary shop to be set up as soon as possible ahead of any permanent solution.

Cockburnspath Community Enterprises as a Steering Group, was established with these purposes as its main objective.

READ MORE BUY SHARES

Our mission

To start up a community shop we based it on a community enterprise model to serve the population of Cockburnspath and Cove. The Key Objectives of Cockburnspath Community Enterprise Limited are:

Providing a retail shop, which may incorporate a post office and café facility, which is to replace the previous village shop which closed in February 2020 and by carrying on other activities which may, from time to time, be considered to be of benefit to the local community and serve visitors to the community, the community being defined as being the rural Parish of Dunglass and the postcode area TD13;
Promoting inclusion within the community, regardless of gender, background and age and looking out for the more vulnerable members in the community whilst adopting an active role in the prevention of isolation and loneliness;
Encouraging a lower carbon footprint for residents in the community, promoting local products where possible and providing a hub for community events and services.

Video: Share Offer

Introduction to Share Offer by Co-Chairs Richard Copland and Marion Lauder

Community Shares

It’s Your community’s shop! The shop will be community owned and community led. This is based on a community shareholder model.

If you are living the TD13 postcode, you will be invited to invest in the venture and to have a say about the running of the Community Shop by voting at general meetings. Shares will be offered at £10 per share, and all members will have one vote regardless of the number of shares they own. This is your chance to be involved in your local shop and make sure that it is run in the way that benefits the local community and meets their needs.

The business will only be as successful as the community makes it! So, the community is urged to invest in the shop by buying shares and shopping at the shop.

Read more

Modular Building

The best and most central location identified by both residents and Scottish Board Council for a temporary site for the Community Shop was at the end of the car park next to the village hall where services such as electricity, water and sewage are close by.

We approached the village hall for permission to use this area to locate a suitable building. The dimensions are determined to be the optimal size to carry the range of goods similar to Sandra and John's Shop - plus more, to fulfil the ongoing Covid requirements and disabled access and toilet.