ShopOtley, the online shop that includes products from five of Otley’s best-loved businesses welcomed its 1500th visitor this week.
In its second month of operation, the site allows visitors to shop for some 200 products across the five businesses, all available for next day delivery and payable with a single transaction.
The five businesses currently on the site include:
- Coffee shop and delicatessen O’Deli – based on New Market and home to a selection of fine coffees, specially sourced Italian Prosecco, and cakes and sweets that cater to those with food allergies and intolerances
- O’Fresh – a recent addition to Otley’s shopping scene, this greengrocers offers a selection of fresh fruit and vegetables sourced from local wholesalers
- Butchers Geo Middlemiss & Son – one of Otley’s oldest businesses, in operation since 1881 and in its current Market Street premises since 1900
- Refill store Like Nana Did – another recent Otley addition, this zero-waste store brings a modern sensibility to a traditional way of shopping
- Bondgate Bakery – this award-winning artisan bakers provides a wide range of bread, savouries, cakes and pastries and is a former winner of Best Baker at the Farm & Deli Shop Awards.
The site – which also includes direct links to each business’s own site – was founded by local entrepreneurs Tony Garwood and Kay Whitely, owners of O’Deli and O’Fresh.
Garwood, who has more than 25 years of local and international business experience, said: “Our shopping habits are going back to using the local butcher, baker, greengrocer and the loose dry goods merchant; we like the romance of shopping locally. Even if we don’t browse the high street as we used to, with ShopOtley we can scroll on a screen as we have our coffee and support local shops at the same time.”
Chair of Otley Town Council’s trade and tourism committee, Councillor Paul Carter, said: “We support any initiative that helps local businesses grow and reduces the need for in-store contact at a time when social distancing is so important. As such, we welcome the new Shop Otley initiative and look forward to helping support its development over the coming months and years.”
The ShopOtley site can be found at https://www.odelibar.co.uk/shop-otley