Hutchinson Hobbs farm shop near Yarm celebrates ten years and reaches the final of a national retail award in Birmingham.
They are finalists for a retail award. The Farm Shop and Deli Show will hold the awards in Birmingham during April 2025. The shop plans a tenth anniversary party a few weeks after the awards. Jenny said they learned about becoming a finalist recently.
They plan a “Meet the Suppliers” day on Saturday, May 17. There will also be an 80s themed party that evening with a DJ and band playing music. They want to help local charities.
Great North Air Ambulance is one of the charities they support, which farmers also care about. The shop used to be a golf shop. The family changed the building, adding to it, and opened their business.
Barry and Alan run the butchery, while Jenny manages the shop with Anita, who also handles HR tasks. They buy from local suppliers and farmers, and about seventy businesses work with them. Jenny says supporting local businesses is their main goal.
Burtree Puddings makes sticky toffee pudding, and Acorn Dairy makes award-winning butter. The dairy is an ethical, family business with a very low carbon footprint, values that are important to them.
They do not have a café in their shop, but they use a small kitchen to make homemade goods with local food. They are the only local butchers doing full carcasses, getting animals from local farms and taking them to a slaughterhouse. Then, they bring them back to the shop and sell every cut of meat, so customers know exactly where it came from.
They are very open about where their meat comes from. The shop also makes pies, quiches, and ready meals, all made with local ingredients.
They currently rent their building site but eventually want to expand and hope to buy the site one day. There’s a development option nearby, and they are waiting to see what happens with that. They want a bigger shop and a café, making buying the site ideal, and hope this will happen in the future.