The community of the Isle of Lismore has saved its only shop and post office after raising £80,000.
The Lismore store had been threatened with closure earlier this year when the schoolteacher running it returned to the classroom. If the store has closed, local residents would have had to make a three-hour round trip to Oban for supplies.
However, a share issue campaign by the Lismore Community Trust (LCT) attracted more than 230 backers.
The trust now plans to create a central hub for the Inner Hebrides island’s 160 permanent residents.
LCT Chair Andy Hough told the BBC: “It was heartening to see people from all walks of life, be that permanent residents or second homeowners coming together to engender that community spirit.
“Now people have access to groceries on their doorstep, it is saving them leaving the island on a ferry.”
He added: “We have employed a manager who has two young children. We pay them through the shop, they spend in the shop.
“It is as much a service as anything else, but we do want to make sure it does not make a loss.”
