Share Offer - Booster - Normandy Shop & Cafe

Your Opportunity To Support The Normandy Community Shop & Café

Back in 2019 a survey was carried out in Normandy to see if  villagers would support a community shop. A meeting was held and in February 2020 a Community Benefit Society was set up for The Normandy Community Shop & Café Ltd.

A small group of people stepped forward and volunteered to run the project and set up work groups. Along with local volunteers the project is now coming to fruition, and we are aiming to open in early summer 2023 (June!)

The shop will stock everyday conveniences, local produce and we truly believe with the café, will become a village hub and a great asset.

We aim to sell many local seasonal products. We will also offer a dry-cleaning service and sell newspapers too!

Lots of people are now getting very excited, so the next phase is to build on this excitement, so we can reach our goal and run a successful shop and café.

We were granted a fund by YourFund, Surrey that has enabled us to build the premises. However, our budget has been stretched, as it’s not been easy running the project during a pandemic and financial turmoil, with rising costs of materials, products and utilities.

That’s why we have decided to run a second Share Offer, just to get us over the finishing line and ensure the first month’s overheads are really covered. We’ve heard from quite a few people who have said they missed the last Share Offer and would like to support the Shop and Café.

It goes without saying we thank all Shareholders who came forward in 2021, we simply could not have got this far without their support.

SO HOW DO YOU BUY SHARES

We invite you to invest in a new shop and cafe for the villages that make up Normandy. Below you will find documents describing the community share offer, the business plan and the society rules.

To invest in our Village Shop and Café and become a member of Normandy Community Shop and Café Limited, you need to make a minimum investment of £100 (10 shares at £10 each). You can buy as many shares as you want above and beyond this threshold up to the maximum of £14,000. Each investor is entitled to one vote at the AGM, where every member is able to be involved in the running and development of the business.

If you do find you can't invest that much, think about combining with a group of friends, family or neighbours. Please contact us if you'd like help with this.

Please note that when you are filling your details in, it asks for the name and address of 'the recipient' - that means you - you are the recipient of the Reward and the shares – it is not obvious, I'm afraid. Your name and the amount invested will show on the supporters page - you can select for your investment to be shown as Anonymous if you wish. 

You are also asked whether you want to leave a tip - this is entirely up to you, you can select 0 if you wish by selecting 'Other amount' and 0. 

By investing you are helping to ensure that Normandy has an asset that will benefit the whole community. 

This is a ‘once in a generation opportunity’

Across the UK there are over 360 community run village shops serving their local communities and beyond. This is Normandy’s ‘once in a generation opportunity' to open our own community run village shop. 

How much are we aiming to raise?

We are launching our second Share Offer to boost our funds to get us over the finishing line, we’d ideally like to raise over £15000.

Please don’t leave it to others, as the more we raise above and beyond our minimum target, the better the shop and café will be and the less we need to have to borrow in loans. 

This is your chance to play your part in establishing a community shop and cafe and create a lasting legacy for generations to come.

Reasons to invest:

• It will give us somewhere to meet up and do our shopping locally
• It will reduce the need for visits to shops outside the village
• It will be within walking distance for many villagers
• It will give Normandy a focal point for the community
• It will increase the attractiveness and value of properties in the area
• This is an investment not a donation, you become a shareholder
• We have the backing of the community and YourFund funding so far
• We have a shop built and almost ready to go
• Community shops have an excellent success rate
• There is the possibility of 30% tax relief on your investment
• We will be creating jobs - We have a Café Manager in place and a Shop & Café Assistant, we are still looking for a full-time Shop & Café Manager, all enquiries please email [email protected]. We are doing everything to make the shop and café a success and hope to create more jobs for our local community.

Most importantly…. we need volunteers to sign up, offering people a local place to volunteer, meet new friends and become part of village life -  we are now recruiting volunteers, if you haven’t already signed up please get in touch, we need over 50 volunteers to be registered to make this venture work smoothly, we are just under half way there!

For job and volunteer enquiries: [email protected]

Learn more about our journey: www.normandyshop.co.uk