A Corfe Castle shop is steeling itself for a surge in business after featuring on primetime TV.

Clealls Stores received a makeover and took business advice from BBC2’s Mary Queen of Shops, Mary Portas.

Owners Chris and Juliet Porter called for help after struggling in the face of the recession, competition from the internet and wet summers.

But the transformation, in which the shop was de-cluttered and focused on local produce, has already worked wonders.

Chris, who took over Clealls with Juliet three years ago, said: “We’re struggling to keep up with demand.

“We sold a month’s worth of crab in one-and-a-half days recently!

“Bank Holiday weekend was the first time a lot of our regulars had seen the makeover and it was 100 per cent positive reaction.”

Chris said the production company had warned the shop to brace itself for a very busy summer and a spike in hits on their website.

“We were definitely struggling before,” he said.

“But we were lucky – our bank manager’s secretary knew about the show and told him to hang on!”

Film crews, alongside presenter Mary Portas, descended on Purbeck to shoot the Clealls episode over six weeks last autumn.

Chris and Juliet initially responded to a BBC mailshot searching for struggling independent businesses.

Clealls, situated at the heart of the Purbeck village, has been an integral part of Corfe Castle since 1881.

• The show can still be viewed on the BBC’s iPlayer - see related links below.