Bentley Stores has now been in the ownership of the same family for almost 60 years but during this time has gone through almost a complete circle of change - the starting point has evolved to become also the situation of today. That is the story told on this page, a history of successful evolution that is not yet finished. Watch this space ....?

The story begins in 1941 when this photo of the shop was taken.

In 1941 Mrs Wheatley and her daughter opened a small grocery business in lock-up premises on the main road passing through Bentley. At that time her sons were serving in the armed forces. The business grew and after a short time her husband gave up his local job and joined her in the business.

By 1946 her sons William and Albert and her son-in-law George had returned from their wartime service and they also turned their attention to further developing the business.

By 1955 the original premises had become quite inadequate for the volume of trade and plans were made to rebuild the rear of the shop to provide offices and storerooms. In 1957 the demolition started on the front of the premises and the shop as it was in the photo on the left was completed in 1958. Many local residents will be familiar with this view as, with minor modifications, it remained much the same until very recent times.

The Wheatley familiy showed themselves to be both resourceful and enterprising by undertaking most of the rebuilding work themselves. Only the more specialist tasks involved outside help. While the extensive rebuilding was under way the family had to also cope with evolving trends in the retail grocery trade and familiarise themselves with major changes in the way shopping would be achieved in the future.

The change emerging at that time was the embryo of "self-service" shopping. The foresight and imagination of the Wheatley family influenced their decision to lay out the new shop to allow customers to take advantage of this new trend. The results proved they were right.

There were also developments to increase the output of the bakery which the family had introduced and an extensive newspaper and periodical circulation was also maintained.

The whole plan was designed to make shopping a pleasant experience for customers and, in an effort to provide an even higher level of service the business also operated a fleet of delivery vans and a mobile shop.

As if this had not been enough the business had, over this period expanded far beyond the confines of just Bentley Village into the surrounding districts. Expansion of the business involved the opening of three other branches, Froyle Stores in Lower Froyle and the Foxhill and Bourne Stores in the village of Lower Bourne. These businesses were also modernised and refitted to provide the first class service demanded by customers.