On the doorstep community store proving lifeline for locals

A not-for-profit community-led store and café is just one of the 89 good causes that are currently benefitting from the Exeter Community Lottery.

The Sylvania Community Stores and Café in Pennsylvania, Exeter, was revealed recently as one of the top ten good causes enjoying ticket sales from the Community Lottery.

When people play the weekly lottery they have a chance to choose which good cause to support. Fifty pence in every pound then goes to that cause, with 10p going towards the Exeter Central Fund. The rest of the money pays for prizes and the administration of the lottery. At the moment good causes are set to benefit from around £50,000 in total over the first 12 months.

Players of the lottery can also choose to nominate the money to a central fund which then gets distributed among good causes that are signed up.

Sylvania Drive – where the Stores and Café are located – used to have a convenience store but this closed down and the building stood empty for a number of years.

In summer 2020, local residents started to discuss the idea of trying to open the shop again.  Pennsylvania is an estate where a large number of people, especially the elderly, experience high levels of social isolation.

After much effort, Sylvania Community Stores Ltd was established in March 2021 as a FCA-registered community benefit society owned by its shareholder members and run by a small management committee and assisted by other volunteers.

The stores opened in July 2021 and continue to provide locals with a community shop and cafe that benefits all local residents. A post office service is now also available in the stores one day a week and there are children’s play facilities and a book library.

 “Those who use us love us,” said Pete Stevenson, Chair of the Community Stores and Café.