A TIRED and run down East Cornwall village store on the brink of closure two years ago has been turned around through the drive and determination of its owners and huge community support. And the icing on the cake for the newly refurbished Gunnislake Stores it that it has been approved for National Lottery ticket sales, beating off applications from 120,000 other retailers in the South West. Gunnislake residents can finally buy a ticket in the village 13 years after the game was launched. At a time when village shops and post offices are struggling to survive, this is one village store where trade is booming. With expertise in business development, young husband and wife team James and Katie Gabbitas bought the store exactly two years ago — they now employ a full-time manager and four other staff and are looking to extend the workforce. 'The shop was very run down and we bought it as a challenge,' said Mrs Gabbitas, 27. 'We built up the business and have been very well supported by the community.' A complete refurbishment, costing more than £50,000, and extension of opening hours has seen the changing fortunes of the Gunnislake stores — it is now open until 9pm seven days a week and has the only off-licence in the village. 'We open at 7.30am Monday to Friday and 8am at the weekends —it's like a proper convenience store and people use it as that, but we do have trolleys for people to do a larger shop if they want, and every month we run 30 promotions which will undercut the price of supermarket lines.' The latest good news for the store is the installment of the National Lottery machine which has further increased the footfall. 'The lottery has made a huge difference because it's never been in Gunnislake before and everybody desperately wanted it,' added Mrs Gabbitas. 'It is so hard to get a machine because there are no new ones available — you have to wait until someone else loses their computer and then go on a waiting list.' The store owners had to make a very good case for having the lottery in their outlet and had to show that the business was thriving. 'We were delighted that we were picked from 120,000 retailers and we have been really busy in the shop over the last ten days — there is such a buzz in the village about this.' Mrs Gabbitas, who previously lived in Torquay, said she and her husband had been made to feel very welcome in Gunnislake by the residents and business community. 'It is such a lovely village and we have had lots of support from other shops — it's been great,' she said.
