Advice online

ViRSA has developed a series of advice sheets covering all aspects of setting up and running a village community owned shop. You can either access them as pdf files from this page or if you prefer you can purchase a full set in hard copy. Please contact us if you would like answers to questions not covered by these advice sheets.

All advice sheets are in PDF format approx 60Kb. You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these documents.

Getting started

You can download the following advice sheets:

Community-Owned Shops
Why Open a Community-Owned Shop?
Consulting the Community
Setting up Committees
Siting Your Shop
Organisational and Legal Structures
ViRSA Industrial and Provident Society – Model Rules
Your Business Plan
Sources of Funding
Post Office
Applying for an Off-Licence
Environmental Opportunities and Funding - under construction

Ready for trading

You can download the following advice sheets:

Support for existing shops

Shop Development

Customers

Legislation

Management

Examples of best practice

You can download the following advice sheets:

Shop questionnaire - This is a word document that can be adapted to suit your requirements.
Headings for operating profit and loss
Staff handbook This sample staff handbook for community owned shops has been kindly provided by Urchfont Community Shop and can be adapted for your own requirements.

Click here to order a full set of advice sheets.