Retailing in Rural Regions (RRR)
About the RRR Project
Retail in Rural Regions (RRR) is a three year project (2009 to 2011) which aims to benefit shops in rural areas. The overall purpose is to provide and sustain tailor made support to aid the survival, development and growth of rural retail shops. The project has a particular focus on the support needed to help stores become multi-functional and extend the range of services they offer.
The project involves eight Northern European Countries; Finland, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Faroe Islands, Northern Ireland, Greenland, Sweden and Norway. It is primarily funded by the Northern Periphery Programme and European Regional Development Fund. National match funding has come from different sources – Consumer Focus Scotland provided the match funding to enable CRN to become the Scottish partner in the project.
In Scotland the project has focussed on community-owned shops and has been co-ordinated by Tor Justad. Activities have included research into the needs of rural shops, followed by a number of study visits and a pilot retail training programme.
In 2009 the partner countries visited Uig Community Shop in Lewis and since then some managers from our network have had the opportunity to take part in study visits to Norway, the Faroe Islands, Ireland and Shetland.
Over 2011 a pilot training programme has enabled us to deliver a series of retail training sessions and test out the use of remote access in partnership with the University of the Highlands & Islands.
Participants attended a final conference in November 2011 in Heidarbaer, Iceland. The conference presentations are available on YouTube.
- Find our more about RRR at www.ruralshops.blogspot.com
- Find out more about NPP at www.northernperiphery.net
Rural Retailers in Scotland
The rural retailers that have participated in the project in Scotland are:
- Uig Community Shop
- Co-Chomunn Eirisgeidh (Eriskay Community Co-operative)
- Co-Chomunn na Hearadh (Harris Community Co-operative)
- Ravenspoint Community Shop
- Bùth Tholastaidh (Tolsta Community Shop)
- Eid Community Co-operative
- Ollaberry Community Co-operative
- Hillswick Community Shop
- Eday Community Co-operative
- Papay Community Co-operative
Programme Reports and Study Visits
- Project Flyer - all partners: 2009 (2MB PDF)
- Study Visit to Norway Report: February 2010 (272kB PDF)
- Study Visit to Faroe Islands Report: June 2010 (311kB PDF)
- Project Report: July 2010 (639 kB PDF)
- Study Visit to Northern Ireland & Ireland Report: January 2011 (415kB PDF)
- Study Visit/Networking/Training to Shetland: May 2011 (395kB PDF)
- Final Conference, Iceland: November 2011 (852kB PDF)
- Final Project Report – Scotland: December 2011 (1.3MB PDF)
Scottish Dissemination Seminar, Inverness 8 September 2011
- NPP Dissemination Seminar: Programme (545kB PDF)
- NPP Dissemination Seminar: Participant and Speakers List (549kB PDF)
- Project Flyer – Scotland (4.6MB PDF)
- Presentation by Tor Justad: Setting the Scene (3.9MB PDF)
- Presentation by Helge Schei: The Merkur Programme, Norway (13.5MB PDF)
- Presentation by Peter Couchman: Support for Community-owned shops in England & Wales (25.7MB PDF)
- Presentation by Kirsty MacColl: The Training Programme for Community-owned Retail Stores (5.1MB PDF)
- Presentation by Bill Gray: Food Access in Rural Areas (1.3MB PDF)
- Dissemination Seminar Report (90kB PDF)
Training Sessions
Material from the following training sessions is available. Please email CRN if you would like a copy:
- Customer Service - West Highland College
- Food Safety Level 2 - The Co-operative Group
- Health & Safety - The Co-operative Group
- Effective Store Management - The Co-operative Group
- Happy Shoppers - Eric Calderwood, The Institute for Retail Studies