On Pontypridd 's Taff Street you'll find a little shop called Pete's, but few people know the story of the determined business and how it has fought to succeed for decades. The little shop sells a number of items, is sustainable and also sells a lot of plant-based products, but it actually started out as a tiny market stall more than 40 years ago. It has since survived the miner's strike, Storm Dennis and more recently, the coronavirus pandemic.
Home to wholefoods, international foods, vegan and vegetarian foods, spices, loose refills on foods and eco-friendly household and toiletry items - the little shop sells many goods the average shopper would be thrilled to see. But they might not realise it's the latest incarnation of the wholefoods shop which was started by brothers Pete and John Lenaghan in 1981.
Back then the brothers set up a stall in Pontypridd Market selling wholefoods, spices and herbs because there was nowhere else selling those kinds of things in the town at the time. Eventually John left to pursue a different career and Pete ran the store on his own but, as the store became more popular it had to expand, so Pete moved out of the market and set up a shop unit on Mill Street, and the name was changed to Organic Wholefoods and Homebrew.
The shop ended up becoming a community hub, and Pete was well-known as a local character with a kind heart and friendly personality. The shop ended up incorporating more world and international foods, and homebrewing equipment for people who wanted to make their own wine and beer at home.
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Pete always wanted the shop to be an ethical business - buying from worker's co-operatives and local producers where possible - and this is the spirit in which the team still run it today. Towards the end of his life, Pete was struck down with Guillain Barre Syndrome, which left him permanently disabled.
He managed to persevere, and still kept the shop going with the help of other people. One of those people is Caspar Harris, 44, who was managing the shop when Pete sadly died in September 2019. Caspar continues to run the business today.
Caspar said: "Since the shop was such a beloved part of Ponty town a group of customers, along with myself, got together to figure out the best way to keep it going. We decided that we would keep the shop going as a Community Benefit Society, which is a form of co-operative.
"We feel that this model suits the community spirit of the shop, so now the shop is run for the well-being of the community rather than for any person's private profit. We changed the name to Pete's Shop in memory of Peter Lenaghan, of course. Since then we've had our ups and downs. In February 2020 the catastrophic flooding destroyed most of the stock, and severely damaged the premises.
"The local community were amazingly supportive in terms of helping salvage what we could and helping us clean up, and then straight after the pandemic hit, which slowed down our relaunch as a CBS. But we are now firmly up and running again, and in January 2021 we moved into our new premises on Taff Street, and finally launched ourselves as Pete's Shop."
The new premises gives the team a lot more space, and the shop has branched out into selling loose refills of dried foods, household cleaning products and toiletries because there aren't any other places in the area where you can bring in and refill your own container to reduce your plastic waste.
Caspar said there is also space upstairs to run workshops now so, together with the regeneration of Ponty town, they are hoping for a brighter future. When asked about the impact of the floods and the pandemic, Caspar said: "It felt like a continuation with coronavirus in a way. We were already in a state of emergency.
"You'll start to see business pick up then there's another wave of Covid, and then it picks up again. I think Pontypridd town centre is really on the up. Since I have lived in Pontypridd they have built the Lido and there are redevelopments.
"I know a lot of older people remember the busy market town, but it's different now. When you compare it to a lot of other town centres we are on the up." To keep up to date with the latest news from Pontypridd sign up to our weekly newsletter.
Caspar said, when it comes to the shop's demand, Pete's has a wide range of customers. There are some loyal customers who visit who may have been coming since the early 80s.
Then there are people who have only started noticing the business since it moved to Taff Street. The new location has definitely given the business more prominence, and Caspar likes to think it offers something unique as well as stocking products that are all the rage at the moment.
"We have some people who have been coming for years," he said. "Some people come in now with their kids. New people are starting to notice us too, because we are now on Taff Street.
"Before we were on the side street, so it was slightly out of the way. Some people don't realise we've moved, and think we have closed, but there are definitely new people.
"Some people may have never noticed us before. Some of them are friends, and some people have known Pete for years. A lot of what we sell is plant-based and vegan, and there is definitely a big focus on what people are eating. People are thinking about the environment, and people are thinking about their well-being and health. I think that's a part of it."
Some people may have found it easier to quit and throw in the towel after the past few years, but Caspar was determined to keep the shop going. He doesn't think there's a secret as to what's made the business sustainable, but he did say he thinks Pete saw some tough periods during his time as the manager.
If he could make it through the storm, so can we, seems to be the motto at Pete's. Caspar said: "I think of how the shop has coped in previous years, because in the 80s they had the miner's strike, and Pete told me at one time him and his brother just took all the stock they could give, and they took all the stock from the shop to people who were really struggling. If they can survive that then you can get through things like the pandemic, and all the other struggles that are going on."
