Chris Evans MP for Islwyn “cut the ribbon” today (20/1) to officially open Aberbargoed Post Office which has restored service to the community at Nisa, 93 Commercial Street, Aberbargoed, Bargoed, CF81 9EU.
Shabna Kalam and Rimys Latheef opened a brand-new Nisa convenience store at the start of December. The premises had been empty and the shop was fully refurbished.
Now a Post Office has been added. A Post Office serving point is alongside the retail counter.
The Post Office opening hours are Monday to Saturday: 7am – 11pm; Sunday: 8am – 11pm. This offers 111 hours of service a week throughout the store’s opening hours, making it very convenient for customers to visit.
The previous branch at 26 Commercial Street, Aberbargoed, closed in December 2019, due to the resignation of the Postmaster.
Chris Evans MP said: “It is great news that Aberbargoed Post Office has now re-opened at this fantastic-looking new shop, which opened last month. The shop is already proving to be very popular with the community. Residents and businesses are delighted that the Post Office has now opened too and the daily opening from early until late make it very easy to visit. People can now buy their groceries, send mail, home shopping returns, pay bills and very importantly, as there are no banks in the area, they can do their banking on behalf of all the high street banks.”
Rimys has been in retail for 20 years and he has been a manager with Tesco, Budgens and Sainsbury. Three years ago, Rimys and Shabna took on their first shop, Porth Family Shopper. They have used all this retail experience to invest in their new Aberbargoed business and their first Post Office.
Rimys said: “The local Aberbargoed Facebook group kindly introduced us to the community and we now also have our own Facebook group – NisaexpressAberbargoed and we already have more lots of followers. We are very community minded. Nisa has a loyalty scheme and we will be donating to a local community project every six months. People have been very welcoming, and they have been excited to hear that we were opening a Post Office as it is very convenient with all the services that we can offer. We will soon be employing local people.”
Katimay John, Post Office Network Provision Manager, said: “We are pleased that we now have a new Post Office for Aberbargoed, with daily opening and long opening hours, which will make it easy for customers to visit.”
ENDS
