Former village shop shuts down due to rise in online grocery delivery

A former village shop and Post Office is shut down and could be converted into living space after the pandemic and a rise in online shopping hit its trade.

According to local reports, the store in Challock, just off Canterbury Road, was operational for more than 40 years but closed in August.

In a planning statement submitted to Ashford Borough Council to convert the site after failing to find new owners for the shop, co-owner John Ramsden said “changing times and attitudes have beaten us”.

Challock also has a delivery service from Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose, Iceland and Sainsbury’s which are widely used by the villagers – and the new Aldi in Faversham is only 10 minutes away.

“The main reason why the shop has not sold, through feedback from prospective buyers, is the size – 12ft x 24ft – which is no bigger than a normal living room, and no space to enlarge to make it a profitable business,” Ramsden said.

During Covid, the rise in online grocery delivery seems to have taken a hit on this store’s trade.

“Covid, a lot of people didn’t want to go out so they started going online and all the big supermarkets jumped in,” Ramsden’s partner Angela Puxted told local media outlet.

“They still have stuff delivered, so it was a combination of everything.”

Puxted, 81, had received a 30 years of service award from the Post Office in 2014.

“A lot of people are disappointed the shop is not there anymore,” she added.

“Nobody wants to buy it as it is so we want to make it into a living space for us,” she said.

“We tried selling it as a shop but everyone said it was too small because the people that were interested wanted to sell alcohol. It needed more space.”