IN THE COMPANY OF: Matthew and Andrea Walwyn, owners of the much-loved Dale Stores in the Harrogate village of Birstwith

Name: Matthew and Andrea Walwyn

Company name: The Dale Stores, Birstwith

Job title: Owners

Company address: The Green, Birstwith, Harrogate, HG3 2NF

Website address: www.dalestores.co.uk

Company founded: There has been a Post Office and shop in Birstwith for many years and we took it over in April 2006

Number of staff: 1 full time and 5 part time

In a nutshell, what does your company do and how did it start?

We are a village store and Post Office, providing services to our local community and beyond.

We have a varied range of products including beers, wines and spirits, groceries, fresh fruit and vegetables, pies, cakes and pastries, fresh butchery, fresh fish, ready meals, household goods and a full range of delicatessen products.

We also have a thriving sandwich trade and also do the National Lottery.

We source our goods from local suppliers wherever possible and try to stock as much of our customer’s needs as we can.

And if we don’t stock something we are asked for, we make sure we do in the future.

It started when we decided to leave our busy jobs in the corporate world and buy ourselves a store in a beautiful village in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Beauty – we’ve never looked back since.

What is your role within the business?

Everything you would expect from running a very well stocked shop.

We are very hands-on and thrive on being involved in all aspects of the business.

Our favourite thing to do though is to look after the people that walk through our door so we would consider that our main role is to provide a welcoming, happy environment that people enjoy visiting.

If you weren't doing this, what would you be doing?

We went into this business with our eyes firmly shut, not really knowing how it was going to go.

In hindsight, it was a risk to leave our senior jobs in business and industry, not just financially but also in terms of security and stability.

Fortunately, it has paid off and we have had a very happy time here.

If we hadn’t taken that risk, we would probably still be working very hard for shareholders.

What motivates you?

Knowing that we are making a big difference to people’s lives by providing the services that they need, particularly the elderly and infirm that live in our community.

We are regularly told that people wouldn’t be able to stay in their own homes if we weren’t there to deliver to them, or carry their shopping out for them, or to help them with their Post Office business.

That is motivation enough and we love what we do.

What is one thing that you wish you had known when you started out in business?

There are many things we didn’t know when we started out, but it’s been fun to learn and adapt.

We kind of knew that it would be hard work to make a living when we very first started, but, sitting on the bench outside the shop after we’d cashed up on our first day, we looked at each other and said “crikey – what have we done?!”.

What excites you about business?

Dealing with people, whether they are customers, delivery drivers, suppliers or staff – we like to keep a happy atmosphere in the shop and have good banter with everybody.

We want people to enjoy their visits to our shop whoever they are and it seems to work.

We also get excited by ranging new products – because we work for ourselves, we have the autonomy to sell whatever we like and it doesn’t have to be signed off by anybody.

We currently have Manchester Tarts in this week and they are flying out.

What is your pet hate within business?

We don’t really have pet hates.

If something isn’t working within our business then we change it until it does and we embrace frustrations so that they no longer frustrate us.

What advice would you give to people just starting their careers?

Do something you love doing.

We all spend so much of our time at work that it is a terrible situation to be in if you are unhappy in what you do.

Money isn’t everything – it’s a means to an end and if you find yourself in a position where you have to do a job you don’t like, then work towards changing the situation in the future.

Who in business do you most admire, and why?

We admire anybody who works for themselves because it’s not easy.

We see it all the time in our customers, many of whom are tradespeople and run their own businesses.

Their commitment to their trades in all weathers, in difficult trading circumstances, through ups and downs is very admirable.

What moments of your career so far stand out?

Last year, we were voted best Village Shop/Post Office in the United Kingdom in the Countryside Alliance’s Rural Oscars and also Best Rural Business in the Harrogate Advertiser Business Excellence Awards, so last year was pretty special for us.

It was a remarkable accolade for the work we have put in to making our shop the best it could possibly be.

Did the Covid-19 pandemic affect your business? If so, how did you adapt during such a tough time and what did you learn?

The pandemic had a massive effect on us.

Before Covid-19, we ran a very busy kitchen which was the main element of our business.

Our food to go offering had a wide spread reputation, making sandwiches, daily specials, homemade soups, panini. jacket potatoes and salad boxes.

This business disappeared overnight so we had to change our offering in order to survive.

We concentrated on ramping up our grocery and deli ranges, introduced an internet ordering system and recruited an army of volunteers to deliver to those who were self-isolating and housebound.

It was a crazy time – the telephone didn’t stop ringing, with people who were desperate for supplies, or who had had their supermarket delivery slots cancelled.

But we got through it and after things started to open up again, we realised that our business had changed completely.

It hadn’t been planned, but we had adapted to what was going on and so it happened.

Is your business currently experiencing any challenges at the moment?

We are experiencing the same challenges as everybody else at the moment, but we are a pretty resilient lot and we are keeping smiles on our faces.

What sets your company apart from the competition?

We don’t really view other businesses as competition.

We firmly believe that every village should have its own shop, a centre for the community.

People who live in our local area take supermarket deliveries and we understand that not everybody can get everything they need from us.

But, we offer something different, more of a shopping experience.

People come to us because we stock good quality stuff, we’re friendly and welcoming, we carry shopping to people’s cars, we offer value ranges as well as premium ones and our customers enjoy coming here – that’s what makes us thrive.

Have you got a five-year plan for the company?

We’re in the process of planning next week.

Five years ago, we were offering our customers great food as reasonably priced as we could and offering exceptional customer service.

We guess we’ll be doing the same in another five years, after all, we’ve got our daughter’s wedding to pay for.

Why is it good to do business in Harrogate?

The best thing about having a business here is that we live next door – and we couldn’t live anywhere better.

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