A shop without staff
Two years ago the local shop in Draughton, North Yorkshire, closed down. The village’s first move was to purchase a red telephone box and stock it with newspapers. The next step was to use it as a shop to sell groceries, pet food, batteries and stamps. The door is unlocked and it is stocked from a shop four miles away. Customers can phone in an order using a credit card or sending a check.
With no one inside running the shop, up to date nothing has been stolen.
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By Christine Egger, August 11, 2010 @ 1:27 pm
Hi David,
This story reminds me of one I wanted to share with you, about a growing number of “karma” restaurants that are opening in the US. They’re primarily volunteer-run and operate on the pay-it-forward generosity of their clients.
Here’s a brief description from Karma Kitchen (http://karmakitchen.org):
“Imagine a restaurant where there are no prices on the menu and where the check reads $0.00 with only this footnote: ‘Your meal was a gift from someone who came before you. To keep the chain of gifts alive, we invite you to pay it forward for those dine after you.’ That’s Karma Kitchen, a volunteer-driven experiment in generosity.”
This is an example of Gentle Action to me because its viability is an extension (of resources, characteristics, temperament) of the community in which it is based.