The hard work of a Brockenhurst couple and their co-operative store team has been recognised nationally after being shortlisted for two separate awards.

Welcome – Brockenhurst, based in the New Forest, has been shortlisted for Community Retailer of the Year and New Store of the Year in the 2021 Convenience Store Awards.

Winners of the awards, run by a market-leading magazine for retailers – Convenience Store, will be announced in September.

Owned by Richard and Karen Dance, the store opened at the start of the pandemic last year and was nominated for the awards by its franchisor Southern Co-op after they had gone above and beyond to support the community even before the official opening on 25 March.

Mike Fitton, Franchise Business Manager at Southern Co-op, said: “Richard and Karen’s vision was to become an integral part of the community and mould the store around the community’s needs – they have certainly succeeded.

“The list of things they have achieved is enormous but key actions which stuck out to us were – holding a community meeting before opening to get people’s ideas, being a founder member and sponsor of a group to make the village greener, reopening a Post Office, offering refillable products, stopping the sale of disposable barbecues to make the forest safer and selling a range of local produce to support regional suppliers.”

The store in Brookley Road will be up against some of the best convenience stores in the UK including Walsall, Co. Down, West Lothian, Manchester and Co. Antrim

Ahead of entering the awards, a local resident described the store as a ‘gift’ to the village. She said: “Since you opened, I have become newly aware of all these delicious locally produced foods that I never knew about before! And I cannot end without mentioning the Post Office.  It makes such a difference not to have to travel a 10-mile round trip to post a parcel or whatever it is that we need to do. So a huge thank you all! Your store enables us to shop locally and ethically and we are very grateful!”

On receiving the news of being shortlisted, Richard Dance said: “It is so pleasing that we have been recognised as finalists as the store is the product of a lot of hard work from a great team and fantastic ongoing support from our customers.

“We are proud of everything that has been achieved.”

Southern Co-op now has more than 50 franchise stores operating under the ‘Welcome’ fascia across the south of England.

To find out more about Welcome – Brockenhurst, visit www.welcomestores.co.uk. Or to find out more about Southern Co-op’s franchise opportunities, visit www.southernco-op.co.uk/food/franchise.