Vikki's, West Place Stores Gobowen

12/10/2022

A massive thank you to our customers for their generous support of the charities we collected for over the years.
We have received notification from Hope House-ty gobaith and Marie Curie that your donations have been gratefully received after returning their collection boxes containing just short of £80 in total.
Thank You.

30/09/2022

Thank you everybody for your Gifts, Cards and Good Wishes, we will miss seeing you all.

Vikki & David

Ps got any spare vases 🙂

27/09/2022

26/09/2022

Gift Wrap 0.30p per sheet or 4 for £1 to clear
Must go by Friday 👍

21/09/2022

As the closing day fast approaches we are receiving cards with kind thoughts and good wishes daily, but today we have a first, a poem about Vikki's, West Place Stores Gobowen

You will have heard of West Place Stores,
No, not a place of twenty floors.
Though outside there's not much to charm,
Inside it is a pool of calm.
You'll find there everything you need
from cans of beans to rabbit feed.
There is no challenge they will shirk
The secret- its a place of work;
Their efforts really never cease,
How is it such a place of peace?
The reason there is very plain,
Behind it all, there is a brain,
You're always guaranteed a smile;
You'll do your shopping there in style,
But enter, please, in single file.

Jim Ayres
(Wonder if he is related to Pam)

21/09/2022

No price rises here, long dates and no electricity costs, just put them on a shelf… simple.

20/09/2022

All cards are now on offer until the end of the month and Gift Wrap is included
There are a few Xmas Cards and Gift Bags and Bottle Bags left as well but be quick 🙂
Pop in and see us.

19/09/2022

A reminder that we will be open today until the Shropshire Stars are delivered, usually around 9.30am
Newspapers are available until then and deliveries will take place as normal.

The shop will return to the usual hours as the period for National Mourning ends after the Queens funeral today.

.

14/09/2022

We can now accept debit and credit card transactions, top ups and bill payments.
We apologise for the inconvenience over recent days, it would appear we lost the router during the storms at the end of last week. 🙄

10/09/2022

Following this evenings announcement confirming that HM Queen Elizabeth’s State Funeral will take place on Monday 19th, we confirm that West Place Stores will be closed as a mark of respect.
Newspapers if published will be delivered as usual.

07/09/2022

Update:-

We are pleased to issue a further update on the continued delivery of newspaper and magazines.

All our delivered newspaper customers will have received a letter this morning confirming that we have successfully negotiated a deal that will see the continued daily delivery of newspapers from the 1st October. The new service provider already delivers to neighbouring villages and are familiar with the locality.
They also aim to finish the deliveries by 8:30am 7 days a week. One other point is that they do not depend on wholesaler deliveries as they collect the papers direct eliminating some of the issues that on occasion resulted in double runs.

We believe both these points will help ensure the continued delivery service we strived to achieve.

Thanks everyone for your patience and continued good wishes..

Not long now!

Dave & Vikki

07/09/2022

Quite possibly your last chance to buy these unique “Christmas From Gobowen Cards “

05/09/2022

Well Christmas has come early to West Place Stores we have a selection of Xmas Cards, a small amount of wrapping paper and some Gift Bags, all marked half price.
Be Quick

01/09/2022

The new bins are being delivered in parts of the village this morning.

.

30/08/2022

Sadly found this cat lying on the Hengoed road by Pentrewern Farm quite a big cat and virtually unmarked, not been there long.
It’s been moved to the verge on the left beneath a road-sign just passed an entrance to Pentrewern Farm

17/08/2022

Dear Customers

Important Notice.

We are writing to inform you that at the close of business on 30th September 2022, we will be closing the doors of West Place Stores for the final time.

The reasons for this are many but the following points are the basis of our decision.

Firstly, over the last few years the number of newspaper accounts has greatly reduced as people access their news in different ways, newspapers were always at the core of our business and this has had a big impact.

Secondly, since the beginning of the pandemic there has been a constant battle with supply issues, which still show very little improvement. This has led to empty shelves and reduced choice.

More recently spiralling costs are also taking their toll

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, after 25 years we are not getting any younger, and the time has come for us to retire.

If you have a newspaper account with us and we hold vouchers on your behalf we will be in touch again and return any unused vouchers to you by mid-September.

We thank you for your valued custom over the years we have shared laughter and tears with many of you.

David & Vikki
West Place Stores

13/08/2022

Papers-
The Sun was not delivered this morning.
There will be a double run when received from the wholesaler.
Anticipated time 10am

11/08/2022

HORSE LOOSE- There is a horse loose in Park Hall atm it’s by the Venue..It’s been reported.

Thursday 11th 7am

18/07/2022

6.30am and a pleasant 13c, open your windows folks cool your house down.

14/07/2022

If you want to drop a pound or not drop a stitch, we have a mag for you 👍.

07/07/2022

One of our policies since taking over the running of West Place Stores has been to always maintain good stock levels, keeping the shelves full. This often attracted favourable comments down the years.

Unfortunately, in recent times this policy has become very difficult to maintain. The reasons are plentiful, our suppliers Bookers were taken over by Tesco's who declared to continue to support independents, this has seen the range of Bookers products reduced whilst some products have been replaced with Tescos own brand, which in some cases are more expensive.

A trip to the Cash &Carry became an eye opener with not just empty shelves but empty aisles.
Brexit was next with some items continually out of stock, medicinals were hit hard and the brand Euro shopper just stopped, It was getting crazy with limits on certain items.
I fell out with the C&C manager when I exceeded a daily limit of 2 outers of toilet rolls, saying well that's a weekly supply I don't come in daily. I was considering closing our account.

It was just beginning to settle when the pandemic arrived, which had a major impact on supplies and the repercussions are still being felt with some items just not available.

Add in rising inflation, take Sunflower oil 1.99 now 3.20 hardly RPi at 11% that the government refer to, well, I could go on.

However, there is a positive, customer support, it has not wavered even when we dropped our opening hours you continued to support us.
Thank You.