Brynteg convenience store praised for its “outstanding contribution” to local community during the pandemic

A local convenience store and its staff has been praised for its “outstanding contribution” to the community during the pandemic.

On Thursday 23 July Clwyd South MP, Simon Baynes made a socially distanced visit to AM/PM Convenience Store on Darby Road, Brynteg to learn more about how the business has adapted to help support the needs of customers and the local community.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic staff at store have provided free deliveries and collected prescriptions on behalf of elderly and vulnerable residents.

On Thursday, Mr Baynes met with store manager and owner, Dino Paletta, and his son, Alessandro, who came up with the idea; as well as John Santos, who volunteers by delivering shopping and prescriptions, and Samantha Hughes, who works at the store in Brynteg.

Alessandro, Dino’s son, realised early on during the pandemic that elderly and vulnerable residents would find it more difficult to collect prescriptions and shopping themselves. So together with John Santos, he decided to set up AM/PM’s own bespoke delivery service for customers.

To date, they have made more than 1,000 deliveries – with zero delivery charge – to people locally and as far as Mold, Penley and Llangollen. And they are currently still taking orders.

Dino Paletta said: “We’ve been incredibly proud to offer this service to our customers who need the support at this difficult and uncertain time.

” We think it really helps the people in our community who need this help the most and we’re happy to continue to provide it as long as it’s needed.

Simon Baynes MP added:“The AM/PM team have gone above and beyond to support the local community during this crisis. And I was really impressed to learn about how they’ve worked as a team to help support some of our most vulnerable residents.

“It’s also great to see a local family business doing so well and giving back to the community.”