Fruition is the only greengrocer on the high street in Glastonbury, nestled among a butcher, baker and delicatessen, the usual estate agents and insurance brokers and - off the back of its legendary festival - tourist shops selling new age items.
Tim Bates took over the shop just over a year ago and has not looked back. However, he admits that independent retail is not an easy game, given the fierce competition on the high street. The greengrocer had its first birthday on February 13, marked by a party on Valentine’s Day that was attended by a cross-section of customers, friends and suppliers.
So did the first year live up to expectations? Apart from the unexpectedly high cost of the initial plumbing and electrical work, the shop looks good and the daily routines run smoothly. “Having said that, a vision ought never to be fulfilled,” says Bates.“Some day, I may even make a living from it.”
He considers the shop’s survival of its first year to be a major achievement, especially given the current nature of the retail environment.
Morrisons is the town’s largest supermarket, with Sainsbury’s and Tesco not too far away, a Tesco Extra in Shepton Mallet and an application pending to build a large new store on Glastonbury’s periphery.
“Can there be a community that Tesco has helped?” asks Bates. “In Shepton Mallet, Tesco’s only tangible benefit to the town appears to have been new Christmas decorations. Itpromised not to plunder the high street, but they have enticed Boots and other anchor shops into their development. The high street there has become even more like a ghost town than it was before, despite incentives for improving shop fronts. Tesco has promised to create 200 newjobs in Glastonbury. Do the arithmetic. How many of these jobs will be full time? Where will they find the staff? What businesses will suffer?”
Bates is dismayed by current trends. “Please read the book Tescopoly [by Andrew Simms] for a clear discussion of what an irresponsible corporate citizen this company is. Large, corporate food companies represent the antithesis of a healthy, sustainable, local economy. The Transition Town folks and the town council ought to bemaking the strongest possible case against Mendip District Council granting planning permission.”
But this has not stopped Fruition from making the most of its offer and continuing to offer a point of difference, with an emphasis on local produce and a box scheme helping the shop to carve a niche for itself in the community.
“For practical and ethical reasons, local food is a priority,” says Bates. “Many products come from within a five-mile radius of Glastonbury, including seasonal fruit and vegetables as diverse as figs, Jerusalem artichokes and chilli peppers, as well as juices and eggs.
“The store sells apple juice, honey, artisan bread and fresh patés made at the Hundred Monkeys café next door, as well as herbs and spices that have been processed locally. More fruit and vegetables, including salads, come from within a 10-mile radius, and from Somerset at large we source pot herbs, oil and fruit cordials. One day last September, I counted 73 products in the shop from within a radius of 10 miles. I’ll better that this year,” he adds.
The vegetable box scheme has been designed to cater to local needs and individual choice. “People tell me that most vegetable box schemes are too boring and offer too little choice,” Bates explains. “I ask: what do you love and hate to eat, do you like surprises, how much would you like to spend and when would you like it?
“Each box is designed for the household that will receive it. I deliver to elderly people and to otherswho can’t collect their boxes. I am co-operating with the newly established Community Supported Agriculture project, by offering a collection point for their box scheme.”
But coaxing people to shop away from their usual shopping habits is no mean feat. “There is a perception that small, independent shops are expensive,” says Bates. “I can demonstrate that my prices are lower than Morrisons’, but some people refuse to believe it.”
Others believe that because the shop looks attractive, it must be expensive. Nevertheless, Bates estimates that he is serving a third more people than previously. He describes his regular shoppers as “fanatically loyal” and reckons he may have “the happiest veg box customers anywhere”.
As part of the service, Fruition offers a range of products and services not usually associated with greengrocery. An adjacent wall serves as a community noticeboard and the shop sells books, as well as a range of wholefood products, flower essences and local soaps. The window ledge is replete with magazines and leaflets advertising local events.
“I am delighted that the shop has become a networking centre for many people with intersecting interests,” says Bates, who donates a box of food to the local soup kitchen each week, while food waste goes to feed goats and supply local allotment compost bins.
The major plan for the coming year is to extend the range of prepared foods on offer, in collaboration with a local chef. A website featuring recipes is in the pipeline and, in his spare minutes, Bates is also editing a book and organising a festival of storytelling. “I hear rumours that there is something called sleep,” he says.
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