Glenuig Community Shop
OPENING HOURS
Please note the shop is staffed exclusively by volunteers and occasionally will not open as scheduled due to unavailability of staff. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
- Mondays 10:00 - 17:00
- Tuesdays 14:00 - 17:00
- Wednesdays 14:00 - 17:00
- Thursdays 14:00 - 17:00
- Fridays 14:00 - 17:00
- Saturdays 14:00 - 16:00
- Sundays 14:00 - 16:00
There has been a shop at Glenuig (immediately south of the Smirisary junction on the A861) for many years, built (with a fuel station) by Glenuig Estate on the new road in 1966. It incorporates a sub-post office (open on Thursday afternoons). The filling station closed many years ago but the shop was re-opened in the 1980s and has run since then, first as a private and latterly as a community venture serving the needs of the community.
Over the years, the shop building fell into a parlous state. Numerous initiatives were made to upgrade or rebuild the shop: all failed for one reason or another. The initiatives involved both Glenuig Community Association (GCA), which set up a separate trading company, and many individuals from the local communities of Glenuig, Roshven and Lochailort. A considerable amount of voluntary time and effort was expended in local fund raising, completing grant applications, designing a new building, drawing up business plans and so on - all with the aim of securing the future of the Shop.
The shop is administered and staffed by unpaid volunteers and the aim is for the trading account to break even: that is to cover costs. Any profit is given back to the community. Additional funds for development costs and capital items have to be raised by other means under the general umbrella of the GCA. Since 2000, £41,269.85 has been raised from donations (The Friends of Glenuig Shop), counter collections, pre-own book sales and various grants. The total expenditure by the GCA in this period on shop-related activities amounts to £48,931.42: a short-fall of £7,661.57. The expenditure included such things as display freezers, feasibility studies, population surveys, architect’s fees, planning fees and so on: many carried out to fulfil the terms of the grants received.
Despite all setbacks, the shop survived and is still in the original ‘temporary’ building which has been renovated. This is mainly due to the initiative, leadership and hard work of one person, Sue McCann. Following the sad loss of several locally important and influential figures in the community, Sue set to and, with a minimum of arm-twisting, invoked the help of local people to completely renovate the shop building, successfully apply for an alcohol off-sales licence and to registered Glenuig Community Shop Ltd. as a Community Benefit Society registered with the Financial Conduct Authority, no 7229. It is good to report that the Glenuig Community Shop is prospering and it recently returned a four figure sum to the GCA as a donation to help with planned upgrades to Glenuig Hall.
Glenuig Community Shop is a separate legal entity from Glenuig Community Association.