The P&K General store story

On Friday the 13th March 2015 a new era in Martinborough began with the opening of the P&K General store. After many months of planning, dreams, wish lists & reality checks Conor & Pip Kershaw unveiled the brand new P&K General Store.
Local icons, the Pain & Kershaw store has been trading in Martinborough since 1873, serving the community over many years & having seen a number of changes in the town this is a hugely significant event for the Kershaw’s & for Martinborough,
Conor & Pip are passionate about the Martinborough community which shows in the way they talk about the project, we interviewed them…..here’s their story – in their own words

What inspired you to remodel the shop?

The store was in desperate need of an upgrade and a little love and we wanted to attracted a wider market of local and out of town visitors alike. We also wanted a store which we and the community could be proud of.

How long was the planning process from start to finish & what challenges did you come cross along the way?

We have been planning for over a year and researching new brands and suppliers which we thought would better suit our current and future customers. One of the biggest challenges was trying to remain a service store to our community but also appealing to Martinborough’s amazing visitor market. Being taken seriously by new suppliers who had to see past the store in it’s current state and believe in our vision was also a challenge.
In the early stages of planning we realised if we followed the traditional route of shop fit outs we wouldn’t have the budget to do it nor would it be the look we wanted to achieve. It was a matter of thinking outside the box and being creative in building the majority of fixtures and fittings ourselves using recycled material from past renovations of Pain & Kershaw and the talents of local Tradesmen.
What lessons have you learnt along the way? Would you do anything differently now you’ve been through the process?
We have learnt with change you can’t please everyone but to stick to your vision and that in retail change is good! There is nothing we would change with the design or layout, it’s everything we set out to achieve. We couldn’t be prouder of the end result!

We love the image of Harry Kershaw (Conor’s Grandfather) as a centrepiece in the store, what’s the story behind this?

The picture is of Conor’s Grandfather Harry circa 1960 at the opening celebration of renovations where the Menswear, Womenswear and Haberdashery were combined with the original Pain & Kershaw building. We really wanted to celebrate the history of the family business and pay tribute to the 3 generations before us, so decided to have Harry’s image there to honour that history. We want to do him proud!

P&K have been trading in Martinborough since 1873, do you have any further plans for upgrades?

We have future plans to extend the Grocery but in the short term it’s business as usual as we refine the huge amount of changes we have made recently across the whole business.
Lastly, are there any special thanks you’d like to give?

We would like to give thanks to the amazing talents of our local Tradesmen who were always obliging and really worked hard with our tight timeframe. We would like to also thank our family and friends for the their incredible support.

Martinborough village congratulate Conor & Pip on their innovation & encourage you all to shop local. The more we support local business the more the local economy benefits.