With the weather turning chilly here in Kintyre we’ve been thinking of novel ways to look both seasonal and cosy, we have lovely high ceilings but they can be a tad draughty, so a new infrared heater should help us keep toasty and keep the energy bills manageable.
We’ve also had a new paid member of staff join us with funding from an employability fund which has been a wonderful addition to our team. One of the great things about the shop is the opportunities it has given local people of a range of ages, as counter volunteers, to regularly engage with the local community in a regular but relaxed way, and to gain experience for their CVs.
We get fun extras in the shop, a kind customer has just pruned their bay tree and brought in a small shrubbery of branches for people to help themselves to. We’ve also now completed our annual stocktake and are getting ready for the festive season, preparing our Christmas stock. We’ve been promoting gift ideas from the shop on a daily basis on Facebook and expect a hot favourite to be Eco Living’s reusable baking tray liners, about which our loyal customers have added enthusiastic comments on various community pages!
As the festive season approaches we’ll also be joining in the Campbeltown Christmas Lights switch-on, by opening the shop extra hours into the evening, with the rest of Main Street. One of our volunteers is planning to create a festive window by then (last year’s featured Santa’s wellies protruding from a chimney, so we are looking forward to seeing what she comes up with this year!) and we’ll sell hot cocoa on a pay-as-you-feel basis. Everyone should be able to afford a hot drink on a cold night.
