A family-run west Yorkshire shop that serves the community and can rival the supermarkets
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We're not a posh deli in the country, we're a working shop," says Keelham's Victoria Robertshaw. "We want customers to do their full weekly shop with us."
Locals have been buying groceries from the Robertshaws in Thornton, west Yorkshire, since 1929 and the family have farmed sheep there for three generations. Since Victoria, a former financial consultant, and her brother James, a butcher, took over the business nine years ago, following their father's death, they've built it into something special: a shop that serves the community and local producers, and can rival supermarkets.
They work to low margins, promising to be roughly 10% cheaper for British food, of which the vast majority is fresh (some 75% compared with supermarkets, who sell only around 20% fresh food). They adhere to "The Keelham Way", which is summed up by their father's motto. "He used to talk about 'being right with people'," says Victoria. "We'll insist on paying farmers more if we think they've quoted too low."
They encourage allotment holders to sell their veg at Keelham (the shop takes 10%). They also have their own brand of beer, Tipsy Pig, in partnership with another family-run business, Naylor's Brewery, and recently bought a historic bakery and pie shop, Amblers. With their mini-empire still growing expanding, will will their own children carry on the family legacy? "We don't believe in inherited success," says Victoria, "but my son has an interview for a butchery apprenticeship with us."