Paul Hargreaves's Page

Well what a shambolic start to the year! It has not really been the weather for running a distribution business. It is the first week back after what seemed a very short break, and all hell is let loose. Some shops having to close for a day or two due to no staff and others having to close due to no customers. Wholesalers like us trying to move heaven and earth to get custom

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A little late this week, but I blame Christmas for that – where did all those customers come from?!

We heard last week that Rumwell Farm Shop, Taunton is the first shop in the UK to receive The Genuine Own And Local (GOAL) certificate from the Farmers’ Retail & Marke

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If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may have noticed I missed a week last week, I think for the first time since I started! Unfortunately I was struck down with the dreaded swine flu caught on the plane on the way back from Shanghai. But, of course, the Chinese have not got swine flu in their nation, they say. Yeah right! If you haven’t had the illness yet I do recomm

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I am writing this week a few days after coming back from Hong Kong and China with a UKTI trade mission. To be privileged enough to visit the hot-bed of the world’s economy was an inspiring (and in some ways challenging) experience. With the massive growth in the Chinese economy has come both a plethora of designer shops around each corner and also a new interest in western food, which

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Do we save money by driving to the so called cheapest supermarket shopping choice? Not always it would seem. That’s why deli wholesaler Cotswold Fayre is exposing the myth that supermarkets are cheaper. Consider Asda’s recent announcement that a list of selected items would all be sold at a fixed price of one… Continue