Established: 1860 Store numbers: five Turnover: £11m Shoplifters beware. Jonathan James, MD of James Graven & Sons, has a broader offer than many enterprising community retailers. At the back of his store in Soham, Cambridgeshire is a police station. He opened the station last month, in an office at the back of the store, following talks with the local police for more than a year. It is the first independently owned outlet in the country to do this. James, who is also vice chairman of the Association of Convenience Stores, has always worked closely with the police, having served in the Cambridgeshire police force for 10 years. "Soham's police station was closed in 2000 and there has been a lot of bad feeling among local residents about the closure," he says. "I wanted to do something about that so when I no longer needed the office I offered it to the police." James has given over the small office free of charge. It is currently open three days a week, twice a day for a trial period, with a view to operating permanently, and is manned by one police officer, a sergeant and four community support officers. Accommodating the police hasn't proved a major upheaval for the store. It's an office for bobbies rather than a detention centre, and although the office is accessed via the supermarket's store room, the police have set up an intercom by the checkouts so that if a customer needs police assistance, an officer can escort them to the office. The police have already noticed the benefits. For instance, officers' travelling time has been cut significantly as they do not have to travel to the nearest police station in Ely, some eight miles away, to start their shift, says James. But it has also benefited the store. "There have been fewer shoplifting incidents and youngsters don't hang around so much in the evenings because there is usually a police car in the car park," he says. The station is a "vital resource" for the local community, says James, adding that other retailers should offer a similar service to the police if they have the space. But this successful 7,500 sq ft store is used to trailblazing. In 2004 it was the guinea pig for Musgrave Retail Partners GB's first independently owned Budgens store after the company franchised all its Budgens stores so it could focus on acting as a wholesaler for the chain. "Although the first store opened in 1860, "trading as Budgens allows us to operate as an independent but with the benefits of a supermarket", says James, who now owns five Budgens-branded stores. Ownership means he has been able to introduce a number of initiatives. Among its 10,000 lines is a James Graven & Sons Heritage range, which celebrates locally sourced food. Frozen vegetarian brand Bean Thinking is based 200 yards away, while the supermarket also stocks salads from local growers, wines from a vineyard in Ely and fresh bread from the village bakery . James has opened a car wash in the car park and will soon be installing a car vacuum. He is also planning to stock Portuguese lines to cater for Soham's Portuguese community. Of the 9,000 residents, 900 are Portuguese. But he won't tread on the toes of other local businesses. "I'll only stock something if no one else does," he says. "The electrical store closed a few months ago so I began stocking electrical items. And when the butcher closed, I built an alleyway joining the high street with the store. The butcher was by the alleyway, reopened and is trading well. "Soham still has a butcher, baker and greengrocer, which is rare, and I don't want to see them lost." Since taking over the business in January 2000, James Graven & Sons has grown rapidly, from 12 staff to 140 staff, but James is hoping to open a sixth store. He is currently seeking planning permission to build a petrol station near Ely. The application has already been refused because of noise issues, but he has added landscaping and an acoustic barrier fence to the plans, which he hopes will allow the site to go ahead. Plans are also afoot to refit the company's existing stores in Dersingham and Witchford later this year. "There is a growing backlash against the multiples," he adds. "The multiples can't do local and community retailing like the independents can. Communities are the most important asset for retailers because we'd be nothing without them."