Shop Around

One of the oldest shops in the UK has reopened its doors.  The premises in Boxford, Suffolk is believed to have been used as a shop as far back as the early 15th Century.  Until 2015 that is when the Boxford Stores shut up shop for the final time, though its post office counter remained opened for business as usual.  Retaining the name, the shop has now reopened as a delicatessen and green grocer.  It is yet another makeover for the store, which as you would expect has clocked up a number of different trades.  Delving into accounts kept by church wardens, it has been in continuous use since 1528 when it was rented to a Mr Thomas Rastall, a butcher.  It has also been a drapery and was a household goods store in the 19th Century.  Roger Loose, treasurer for the Boxford Society, believes its history goes back even further than the records suggest “It probably was a shop in the early 1400s, but we have found no documentary evidence of that,” he said. “The chances are that it was left to the church in a will.”  A real jack of all trades.