A corner shop owner in Merseyside is being hailed for buying and delivering groceries for elderly shoppers who are struggling during the cost of living crisis.
According to local reports, retailer Divyesh Patel, who has been serving customers as the owner of Tower Stores in New Brighton and Wirral since 2007, says he just wants to make local people smile.
Divyesh says a lot of his older customers have been hit particularly hard by the cost of living crisis, leaving them without money for food. To help them, he orders what they need and delivers it to them, and they can pay him for them when they get given more cash.
As well as helping around eight to 10 older customers in this way, Divyesh also does a lot for charity and local schools. He most recently partnered with a local school to provide breakfasts for hungry children, Liverpool ECHO reports.
The convenience store has seen a rise in the number of people needing their help in recent months, as more and more people are stung by increasing rents, mortgages, energy and food prices. Divyesh reportedly now sees it as his "civic duty" to help people where he can.
"I do like to do charity and want to put a smile on the face of the people. Anytime, anywhere somebody needs me I will always help them. Even recently, you will be surprised, I have about eight to 10 customers who we supply with groceries or whatever they need on credit up to £300," Divyesh told the publication.
"They are all old age people and because of this crisis, the energy crisis and all of this, they don't have much money left for food and day-to-day. We deliver and give them whatever they order and when they get money they pay us."
"I think, in a way, this is my civic duty to look after my community. My community has looked after us for so many years, without them I was nothing. This is what we are at the minute is their continuous support."
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