ABBOTTS Ann Village Shop has received a boost after Hampshire County Council awarded the store with a £5,951 grant.

The community-run shop was given the grant as part of the County Council’s Village Shop Grant Scheme and plans to spend the majority of the money on a new check-out system to help them modernise their stock control.

The whole project is estimated to cost £13,730 with the other £6,148 provided by Test Valley Borough Council and £1600 provided by Abbotts Ann Parish Council.

Shop manager Georgina Garner, said: “We need to keep up with the times and we were in desperate need of a new Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) system, so this money will totally change how we do our ordering, it will make it much quicker and easier.”

The independent shop is run by the Abbotts Ann Village Shop Association which was set up in 1999 following the closure of the previous convenience store.

The aim of the group was to maintain a shop and its post office in the village and they proposed the idea of a community run project with many of the locals pitching in their time and effort voluntarily.

The village shop officially opened in 2003 and has been so successful over the last 11 years that it was even voted runner- up in the national Best Rural Retailer Competition in 2007.

Councillor Andrew Gibson, Hampshire County Council’s Executive Assistant to the Leader and Rural Portfolio Holder stressed the importance of helping rural shops like these.

He said: “Village shops play an integral part in the vitality and vibrancy of a village community and are often a lifeline for the vulnerable and elderly members of a village.

“We have been working with village shops in Hampshire to help increase footfall and ensure sustainability through the Hampshire Village Shops Grant Scheme.”

The Hampshire Village Shops Grant Scheme is targeted primarily at villages with fewer than 5,000 residents which either have no shop or just one shop in their community.