Highwoods shop owner says 'Use us or lose us'

4:40pm Tuesday 1st January 2013 in News By Will Lodge

David and Jayne Evison, of Lighters post office and newsagents, Highwoods, are asking customers to use the store or lose it. David and Jayne Evison, of Lighters post office and newsagents, Highwoods, are asking customers to use the store or lose it.

A SHOP owner is calling on customers to use or lose his store after investment plans worth tens of thousands of pounds fell through.

Sub-postmaster David Evison runs the Lighters shop and High Woods Post Office in Highwoods Square, Colchester, which had been earmarked for investment of up to £45,000 and expansion to allow it to run more services for the community.

But Mr Evison said he could not go through with the plans because there was not enough financial backing from the Post Office. Now Mr Evison is calling on customers to tell him what he can offer to keep them coming into the shop.

The Post Office said any uptake of its investment programme was a voluntary decision by individual shop owners, and it has no plans to close the post office aspect of the Highwoods branch.

Comments(10)

Bigh321 says...
8:10pm Tue 1 Jan 13

I stopped going in there years ago due to the miserable staff behind the post office counter, a smile costs nothing. Stood in the que for ages only to be spoken to like a piece of rubbish. I now avoid at any cost.

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Feisty CBC says...
9:24pm Tue 1 Jan 13

I heard that chap in the picture making derogatory remarks about some guy that had just picked up his benefit. I decided to buy my christmas stamps next door in Tesco instead.

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Boris says...
9:43pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Sounds as if the Evisons want to fail. It is a cardinal rule of business that you are polite to your customers and never run them down in front of others.

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bev52 says...
10:34am Wed 2 Jan 13

I have found the shop staff to be very pleasent. However a lot of the shop is taken up by the selling of cards which are very expensive. Tesco next door are selling cards from 25p. Perhaps they should look at selling cheaper ranges of cards.
The post office section is the worst post office i know for ques. Often there is a a huge que full of people with lots of parcels and only one person serving, while the other one is there but with their window closed to customers. You can end up standing for 45 mins or more waiting to be served and i agree the post office staff are often miserable.
This needs to be addressed as I will go off to ipswich road post office where i have always been served promptly.

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totallyfootball says...
11:06am Wed 2 Jan 13

I have to echo some of the remarks above, its about as warm as a fridge in their and most of the chill is created by the staff. Having said that the one in Ipswich Road is much the same. The post office used to be a cheery place, now it seems most of them feel they are no longer providing a service but doing you a favour? I go to the one in Marks Tey on my way out of town, completely the other end of the friendly factor.

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O rly? says...
1:19pm Wed 2 Jan 13

This shop was important to my friends & I through our adolescent years. It was the only place that would sell you cigarettes irrespective of your age or whether or not you were wearing a school uniform!

Long live the loose-moraled local shopkeeper!

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charlies angel says...
2:56pm Wed 2 Jan 13

I have always found all the staff very happy and helpful. I live in Mile End which lost its post office many years ago now. I never have to worry about parking (unlike Ipswich Rd ) and i don't want to have to go to town. I wish the Highwoods team good luck. You have my support.

As for the queues lets just think about how many people live in the surrounding areas!!!!

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goldgirlrowe says...
5:29pm Wed 2 Jan 13

I completely agree with Charlie's Angel. I know the queues are long but my daughter has learnt how to count thanks to the lovely little penny sweetie section in Lighters. The post office is a great asset to the Highwoods community and we are lucky to have it. They should ditch the cards though and add another couple of post office counters to speed it up. If it sold milk and bread too I would probably only use Tesco for my big shops.

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Reginald47 says...
11:11pm Wed 2 Jan 13

Perhaps Cllr Oxford should be worrying about this rather than fried chicken.

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Boris says...
3:09am Thu 3 Jan 13

Tesco will be just waiting for this shop to close so they can take over the post office licence, thus taking over High Woods completely.

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