A community celebration marked the official opening of Chardstock Community Shop & Post Office after the village rallied round to save the store from closure.

The shop and Post Office was at risk of closure as the owners were unable to sell their business upon retirement.

The community raised £257,000 through shares, donations and loans and the Chardstock Community Shop successfully applied for an £180,000 grant from the parish council, as they did not want to lose vital services in their rural village.

This allowed them to buy the premises and to start phase one of the shop refit. 

The Community shop is now run by a group of volunteers and more willing hands were recently recruited at Chardstock's coronation celebration. There is also one paid employee, postmaster Emily Baskett, who operates the Post Office and manages the shop.

Richard Foord, MP for Tiverton and Honiton, 'cut the ribbon' to mark the special occasion.

He said: "It's great to see how this community has really pulled together to ensure that they did not lose their Post Office and shop. They have achieved a great deal already and it was great to hear about future exciting plans.

"People have donated their money, knowledge and time into this community business. I want to congratulate the team effort."

The former owners lived in the house adjoining the shop. This is to be converted into an upstairs flat with separate access, which will be rented by someone from the village. 

The downstairs area of the house will become part of the retail area, partly used for a larger range of goods. There are also plans to add chillers so that fresh fruit and vegetables can be stocked. More local produce is being sourced and stocked. 

The old-style, full-screened Post Office counter is also being replaced with the new-style counter alongside the retailer counter, making much better use of space.

Next year, the Community Shop Committee is also looking to add a café, making use of the existing kitchen and with indoor seating.

The garden is to be sub-divided to provide a small outdoor seating area for the café, an area where vegetables can be grown for sale in the shop and use in the café. There will also be space for an allotment area available for rent.

The operations manager for Chardstock Community Shop is James Willis. The former bank manager also owns a banking and energy consultancy business and has used his knowledge to drastically reduce the shop's card payments, energy and water bills to keep overheads down.

Mr Willis said: "The Post Office and shop were always a very important part of the village, but now it has become even more the hub of the community.

"There is real excitement about what is happening here – people are very happy. Use of the shop and post office has increased." 

Zoe Sprackling, Post Office retail business support manager, added: "It's great that the Post Office and shop have been safeguarded by this tight-knit community coming up with a plan to be able to afford to buy and to improve the premises.

"They have great ideas to boost business and revenue – they are very inspiring. Volunteers love working there and serving their community." 

The opening hours for the shop are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 9am – 1pm and 2pm – 5pm; Wednesday and Saturday: 9am – 1pm with the Post Office closing half an hour earlier. The shop is also open on the Sunday from 9am – 12noon.