Many thanks to Bryce and Sonnie for allowing us to use a copy of the painting from local artist Alice Tennant

SIOP HAVARDS

THE FIRST COMMUNITY OWNED HARDWARE SHOP IN BRITAIN

https://siophavards.cymru

Read this newsletter in welsh

Shwmae / hello everyone!

MERRY CHRISTMAS / NADOLIG LLAWEN !

Welcome to our Christmas Newsletter, bringing you up to date with our activities since October, a look forward to the Festive Season plus news about our building work both before and after Xmas.

Since our October Newsletter, overall, Siop Havard’s sales have held up well. We had a decently busy couple of weeks over the half terms for both local and schools further afield. And we can report that we were still selling crab nets and fishing gear into early November!

Incidentally, as of 29th November we celebrated our second anniversary as a community owned hardware store. We have to thank our amazing members and customers for their continuing support. Diolch yn fawr!

Behind the scenes, much of the Directors’ and Betty’s time has been spent bringing the plans for the renovation works to the ground floor to fruition – see below for news on progress and what you should expect to be seeing from late November into December and then from January ‘25 onwards.

We’ve included below some further detail of how Siop Havards will be mitigating the upheaval of the closure of the main road through the town from January to March in the New Year.

So, for now, we’re looking forward to the Festive Season. The recent cold spell seemed to herald a cold run-in to the Christmas Season.  However, as we all know, this was followed instead rather rapidly by a series of storms and most recently electricity outages. So we’re sincerely hoping that the approach to and Christmas itself will be a lot calmer and not too cold or wet! And with that in mind we have put together a selection of products that should help on all fronts – these are highlighted below.

Once again, we thank you for your custom and do remember whether you’re a shareholder or friend of Siop Havards, please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can help you source anything.

CHRISTMAS / NEW YEAR OPENING HOURS

BUSINESS NEWS

A487 Closure Jan – March 25

The good news is that Siop Havards will be open throughout the period the main road is closed to thru traffic – albeit with slightly reduced hours and importantly offering a ‘click & collect’ style service too.

This new service is a forerunner of an addition to our on-line presence due in the Spring 2025 when you will have the ability to browse and select from all the items we sell.

Meantime, for now, if you know what you want, you can email orders@havards.wales - don’t forget to describe what you want along with your name, contact number and when you’d like to collect it or if you’re not quite sure and want advice then phone 01239 820300

As of this moment we can’t be sure of the demand for and supply of parking, so if in doubt please call or e-mail us, we will then pick your order and agree a time when you’ll be able to pick this up. The shop will be open between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

On the West side of Trefdraeth, WashDay laundry have kindly provided a collection point for paid orders, they have offered 5 min parking in the car park to avoid the chaos and queues expected outside Havards whilst you collect your orders from their reception. Please don’t be tempted to stay longer than 5 mins or the collection point will be closed to all.

Our Extraordinary AGM (EAGM)

Our AGM was held on 15th August, however as the financial reporting by our accountants had been delayed and the minutes of the last AGM (in ’23) had not yet been formally adopted, we decided that it would be appropriate to call an ‘Extraordinary’ AGM (EAGM) to adopt these as well as updating everyone regarding the proposed building works and a few other procedural matters.

This was held on-line via Zoom on 12th November, with over 80 attendees.

The Financial Report confirmed the ‘out turn’ figures for our financial year 2023/24 as follows:

Our Turnover: £196,000
Cost of Sales: £95,000
Gross Profit: £101,000
Gross Margin: 51.6%
Stock Level: £73,000 (a reduction of £20,000 over the year)
Overheads: £91,000 (incl Salary Levels: £63,000)
Net Profit: £12,057
Net Margin: 6.1%
Shareholder Funds: £680,000

All votes on all motions put to the meeting were carried:

• The minutes for last year
• The 2023/24 Financial Statement
• The reduction of the required Quorum for AGMs and EAGMs to 5% of all members/shareholders instead of the current 10%
• To allow the Chair a casting vote in the regular Directors’ meetings

The Directors also took the opportunity to update everyone on the plans for the building works to increase and reshape the sales and staff and administrative areas. See below for news on this important step for Havards.

Update on Reshaping Our Sales Area

As many of you will already know from your visits in the last two weeks, work has already started!

With the kitchen and homewares section re-housed into the hardware and small tools area, the builders have quickly knocked through to the office and stripped out the kitchen. The access to the back yard has also been enlarged in preparation for building the extension in the New Year.

BTW the old kitchen has been quickly repurposed after it was posted in Facebook ‘marketplace’ – within 24 hours it was picked up by a local resident and should be installed in their house shortly.

Currently we’re estimating that we’ll be up and running in the old cook shop, office and kitchen during January, so look out for further details of our expanded offer!

PRODUCT NEWS

The recent bad weather, especially in the last week, has meant that Havards has been the first point of call for many local residents for some key items. At one point we were out of stock on some lines, including Butane gas and household and pillar candles and had a low stock of torches, batteries, oils for lamps, paraffin etc. However the good news is that we’re all topped up again!

Nevertheless, with Christmas fast approaching and everyone preparing both the house and garden for the forthcoming Winter season, we’ve put forward a selection of the kind of products that we stock here in Siop Havards that might help you, your family and friends.

INVESTOR NEWS

Share Certificates

The numbers of unclaimed certificates at Siop Havards are still quite high. If you’ve not collected your Share Certificate please help us save postage costs by popping into the shop – the staff will be pleased to unite you with your certificate.

Those still remaining come 6th January will be mailed out to the contact addresses we have on our member database.

E-Mail Addresses, Junk Mail Settings, contact details.

Do please remember to:

• Let us know if you change your e-mail address or any of your contact details
• Please make sure you set siophavards.cymru as a safe domain in your ‘junk mail’ settings

These will help ensure that our Newsletters and important Investor Information will be received by our members.

Newsletter Feedback

We’d like to thank everyone who contributed to the short survey about our Newsletters.

It was very encouraging to learn that we’re largely succeeding in delivering news about our activities and our plans in a way that our members find both engaging and informative. We will be taking all your suggestions on board and will be including these revisions in the New Year.

By the way, if you’d still like to take part, you can find the survey if you click on this link https://siophavards.cymru/newsletter-survey.htm

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Supporting the Library

We donated a range of kitchen items to the fundraising raffle being held in aid of the library – a total of £320 was raised.

AND LASTLY………

Diolch/Thank you for your continued interest and generosity; We look forward to seeing you in Havards in the run-up to Christmas, and after the festive season and school holidays are over.

And don’t forget that you can still be part of the Siop Havards project by buying shares either for yourself or a child – an opportunity to make them feel even more part of the community by becoming a member of the Havards Community Shop. More information can be found by using this link: https://siophavards.cymru/invest.htm 

 

The Siop Havards Team

MERRY CHRISTMAS / NADOLIG LLAWEN !

 

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