About Us

Neil and Julie Polglase have between them over 20 years of retail experience, predominantly in the retail convenience sector. Following her time in the Royal Navy, Julie was employed by Palmer & Harvey (wholesalers) at their depot in Fareham, Hants. While Neil had worked for several major retailers before becoming an Esso Forecourt franchisee in 2000 and subsequently operating 3 Petrol forecourts in the south east of England. Following a national restructure of their operation Esso terminated all their franchise agreements in favour of managing their operation 'in-house'. After a brief term of employment with Esso subsidiary ROC UK, Neil and Julie decided that it was time to leave the rat-race and return to their Cornish roots. Following a fairly lengthy search, they stumbled almost by chance upon a shop in Saltash, a town which Neil knew well as his parents had lived there some 20 years before, and where his Uncle had owned a Fruit and Veg shop on Fore Street - which he had helped fit out as a teenager!

The Shop

"Based on the corner of Gordon Court and Church Road, and directly opposite Cornwall College Saltash, the shop was purchased from its previous owners 'Hodge News' in July 2006. Having been under their ownership for many years, the shop was looking tired and need of a facelift. We could see the potential in the business, and it was clear that the local community wanted a high quality convenience store which they would actively support.
With this in mind we immediately started to refit the store in order to provide a wider range of goods, and create an environment in which customers would want to shop. This has included a lot of behind the scenes work including the creation of a well fitted kitchen with brand new oven and refrigeration equipment to help us increase our bake off facility. This is an ongoing commitment which has required a large amount of investment on our part and we continue to look at ways of further improving our offer to you, the customer."
"Myself and the rest of the staff are always open to ideas on how we can improve. If you have any suggestions, or you would simply like us to stock a particular product, then let us know, either next time you visit the shop, or by using our contact form. We're always happy to help if we can."