Owner of village convenience store and farm shop in Croxton Kerrial celebrates one year in business

The owner of a convenience store in Croxton Kerrial is celebrating a year of business.

Charles Hubbard, aged 41, opened Croxton Village Shop in Main Street last March with his fiance Zoe Johnson, but she has stepped back from the day-to-day running of the shop to focus on her job as a civil servant.

Charles will mark the store’s one year anniversary on Saturday with a fair inside and outside the shop between 9am and 3pm, featuring stalls from the store’s suppliers.

Reflecting on his first 12 months in business, Charles said: "It’s gone how I thought it was going to go. Everything we planned and strived to do, we are on track for.

"A big thing is the community hub that we’ve set up here, it’s working really well. We know the whole village now and the surrounding area. They all know us. It’s a really good little community.

"One of the things we have been able to do really well is we have not only become a shop for Croxton, but for the surrounding area."

The former King's School pupil explained that he puts emphasis on making sure that "people are recognised and acknowledged", adding that "we roll back the years when it comes to customer service".

Saturday's event is aimed at existing and new customers who can go to the shop and meet the local suppliers, as well as seeing what other products the suppliers have to offer.

Charles continued: "After Covid, there were people in the village that had never met each other, then met at this shop. Now, they have coffee together.

"It’s a pleasure to watch those relationships develop.

"Lots of people in the village have helped us with the shop. We really felt the love, and that keeps you going on the difficult days.

Before opening the shop, Charles previously worked as an accountant, and had no shop experience.

He said: "One of the biggest lessons we have learned is to treat people how you want to be treated.

"We are really friendly to everyone who walks through the door."

The building has been used as a shop for over 150 years, dating back to the 1860s when it was a green grocers.