How We Started;
In her role as a teacher, my wife organised a student trip to Uganda in 2006, which I also went on. On the trip, we worked with a charity called Aiding Conservation through Education (ACE) who build & equip primary schools in Kisoro, SW Uganda. On our return, we were keen to support the charity further by providing an outlet for crafts made by local people. This was the beginning of our investigations into fair trade. We also visit Sri Lanka regularly where we have helped friends to set up businesses & we wanted to help them further as well. We made friends with many local crafts people & brought items home to sell to friends & colleagues. In addition, my wife teaches about fair trade in secondary school & as a family, we have long supported fair trade. Eventually I decided to give up my work as a builder and open a shop. At exactly the right time, a shop, in an ideal location became available and thus Serendipity was launched in July 2007
  
Travels in Africa & Asia.
My wife is currently leading an application for her school to become a fair trade school & will be working with our local MP, Andrew George on this application. In addition she will be supporting Penzance Council in their application to become a fair trade town. When this is complete, we plan to petition St Ives Town Council to also become a fair trade town.
We have set up 2 projects of our own in Uganda & Zanzibar. In Uganda, we work with the community served by the ACE charity & buy crafts directly from parents who then use their earnings to pay for their children's education. All profits from our products go directly back to ACE.
In Zanzibar, we have recently set up a link with a small team of people who make carvings & other crafts for us. We have supplied new tools for this team & helped them with designs that we know will be popular in our shop. There are no middlemen so the craftsmen receive a very fair price for their goods. We also pay upfront so materials can be sourced.
1. Our wholesale purchases come only from certified companies or in a small number of cases from non-certified suppliers who have strict fair trade, ethical & sustainable policies. We have extensive conversations with these suppliers to ensure they meet our exacting standards.
2. We sell our products as cheaply as possible so consumers also get a fair price. We strongly believe it is better to sell large quantities at low prices so we can support more producers.
3. Our staff are fully briefed about fair trade & the products we buy so they can promote our ethos with our customers.
4. We use recycled packaging wherever possible including newly sourced bio-degradable bubble wrap.
5. We promote Fair Trade through displays of posters & leaflets & support Fair Trade fortnight.
6. We have permanent displays of literature about fair trade in the shop & our staff are fully briefed on our ethos which they discuss with our customers whenever possible. The aims of fair trade are displayed in the window of the shop.
7. We support fair trade week by adding extra display materials and offering leaflets to our customers.
8. We have been asked to give talks about fair trade to the St Ives Inner Wheel and a local church group.
9. We do not sell fair trade food products, except for chocolate, because of limited space but we do actively promote other shops & cafes in St Ives who do.
10. We keep catalogues from our suppliers in the shop & encourage customers to read about their fair trade policies.
11. We are often asked by students for information about fair trade for school projects. We are able to talk to them, provide literature & refer them to appropriate websites such as BAFTS & the Fairtrade Foundation
12. We look for very good quality items which we know will be attractive to our customers but which can be sold at a reasonable price.
13. We select products that are not available elsewhere in St Ives, for instance we do not sell shell jewellery because there is a shell shop close by.
14. We stock a very wide range of products so our customers can recognise the huge range of fair trade products.
15. We cater for all sections of our community by ensuring we have a wide price range of items, e.g. small attractive & cheap items for children to purchase.
16. We sell items from many different countries & try to promote understanding about global differences in cultures & beliefs, e.g. we provide information about Hindu & Buddhist artefacts we sell.
17. We try to buy products which are not only fairly traded but are also made sustainably.
18. We buy our items from Uganda so we can directly support the community in Kisoro & support ACE by giving them all the profits from these items.
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