The family-owned Jaybee’s Convenience Store in Basingstoke celebrated 40 years of trading in its local community this month (September 17) by fundraising for a local hospice.

The Mace store, often abbreviated to just JB’s, first opened in 1976 at a site two doors down from its current unit. After 10 years as a newsagent that also had vintage arcade games installed, its founders Jim and Jenny Buttress decided to offer a full convenience offering when they moved to its current site.

Current owner Mark Buttress, Jim and Jenny’s son, has been running the store for the past 20 years. In 40 years the 1,200 sq ft store has employed over 200 members of staff, 300 newspaper delivery boys and girls and even boasted a celebrity customer of the likes of local celebrity, actress Elizabeth Hurley.

The Mayor of Basingstoke attended celebrations at the store’s site at the Kings Furlong Centre, Basingstoke along with the local community, who enjoyed a bake sale, raffle, name the teddy bear competition and food and drink taster sessions. The day raised a total of £500 for local hospice the Naomi House and Jacksplace.

Owner Mark Buttress told C-Store: “The reason we are still here today is down to the fantastic local community here, and we have a strong reputation within the local community. The turn out at our celebration day was excellent and very much appreciated and it is great that we were also able to raise money for a great local cause that we have supported for years now, and raised over £1,000 for this year alone.

“The sector is as challenging as ever today, our biggest challenge is staying competitive with the discounters and educating customers that we do price competitively and offer good value for money. Our two for £2 cross merchandising offer on bread and milk is very popular, it is about listening to our customers and their demands and making customer service the priority all the time.”