“If it wasn’t for the loyal customer base, we have we would not have survived”.

Teresa and Ron Loynd of Woolbrook News are celebrating three years of being in business in Sidmouth and wish to thank all of their customers and staff for their continued support, especially during the difficulties of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking to the Sidmouth Herald, Teresa said:

“Three years ago, on November 17, 2017, we bought Woolbrook News with the aim of bringing life back to the surrounding community and providing a good old fashioned customer service which was needed locally.

We have worked tirelessly during this time. We opened a new tea room, which proved very successful – it’s a place for people to meet, chat and of course, enjoy amazing coffee.

We have also created a soft play area and meeting room for the community to enjoy. Sadly, due to the current restrictions the tea room had to close and the soft play wasn’t able to open at all. We can, however, still serve take away coffee in line with current regulations.

We increased our helium balloon and greeting card stock when Coles had to close down sadly. Therefore we now have a very large range of products to offer for all occasions supplying the hotels and local people.

We have been through two bouts of heavy snow when newspapers were not able to get through to the shop and now, we are going through nearly a year of Covid. But we are very grateful to be in business thanks to the local community and the hard work of all of our paper boys and girls, and shop staff. We are the largest seller of the Sidmouth Herald in the town and couldn’t do it without them.

We have met some wonderful customers and formed great friendships during this period, but sadly we have also seen some customers pass away including a very dear friend through Covid-19.

If it wasn’t for the loyal customer base, we have we would not have survived. We started home deliveries of our groceries in March 2020 and we are still delivering now, some nine months later. We started to stock fresh fruit and veg which is now inside the shop and proving a hit with the locals.

We are not going anywhere for the foreseeable future; this is just a big thank you message to all those who have supported us over the last three years. We are grateful to still be trading in these most difficult times. We also want to thank customers for wearing a face covering in the shop as this has helped us to stay safe.

We are now planning a Christmas raffle starting on Monday, November 22 and all proceeds will go to the Stacey Carnall fund, a young local lady who sadly died of cancer recently. Her brother Andrew will draw the winner on Christmas Eve.

And to assure customers our tea room and our soft play will open again as soon as we are able to do so.

Thank you everyone.”