Before and After
The ladies took over the old ‘Paper Shop', continuing to operate it to avoid any disruption to customers while they planned a refurbishment to not only change the layout and maximise the space, but to create something lovely, where everyone would feel welcome. Like all refurbishments of old buildings, theirs did not go without a hitch. Unlike all refurbishments, however, the ladies would not close their shop, not even for one day as the good people of their village had supported them from the beginning and they did not want to let them down.
They found a flexible joinery company and work was carried out in the evenings and weekend afternoons and loyal customers continued to come, despite the dust and disruption. Work progressed well and then the time came for the new flooring to be fitted. Since it was a beautiful summer, the ladies found a novel way to continue to operate for the weekend that their long suffering joiner planned to fit the new floor. A couple of tables later, the outside market stall shop was set up.
Then disaster struck…when the old flooring was lifted, a rotten and damp subfloor was found underneath. This was not in the plan or the budget. Luckily, the ladies had a joiner who was not going to be beaten by a rotten floor. He raced to his supplier and picked up as much of the required materials as he could get and worked all weekend to try to catch up. The weather held up and the ladies duly set up their outside stall at 6.30am for another few days while the flooring was completed. They even made the local newspaper.
The people of their village were delighted with the little stall and gave it their support, buying extra papers, magazines and cards. Neighbours and the local café even provided teas and coffees. Things did get back on track and a date for the opening of the Post office desk was agreed. The ladies needed to find some amazing and experienced staff to help them run the new shop and they did. Two of the very lovely team from the old Post office agreed to give the new business a much needed dose of experience and continuity. And so it was, in August 2018, The Sorting Office was born.
