Retailer Sivarajah, or Siva Thievanayagam, who owns and runs eight Nisa stores across Peterborough, Orton, Stilton and Stamford, believes 2026 is shaping up to be one of his toughest years ever.
Despite some superb engagement with his local communities, Siva admits his shoppers are increasingly changing their habits, which is naturally affecting his stores. “Nowadays, people are ordering online, especially the youth. Before, at 5pm, 6pm - even up to 10pm - busy people were coming in after work. Now, they’re just ordering online. They don’t mind paying the extra for delivery in 30 minutes from supermarkets,” he explains.
Siva signed an extension to his Nisa deal in 2024, and says he appreciates times are hard for everyone at the moment - and at every level. But his own sales figures make for grim reading, he says: “Overall, sales are down 10-15% across every store. We’ve got eight stores and Nisa are trying their best to help us, but they’re having a tough time too. It’s certainly all across the business, especially with the convenience stores.”
Even more dispiritingly, Siva says there’s nothing on the horizon he’s optimistic about. “I don’t think there’s anything I’m looking forward to this year,” he admits. “For January, my sales are down. Profits are down every month. But it’s not just January either - it was the same problem for the whole of last year.”
“My biggest concern for 2026 will be if the rates go up…”
“I think my biggest concern for 2026 will be if the business rates go up. That’s a big, big thing for me as they’re high already. It’s hard to make money. And the minimum wage is going up again. It’s all come at the wrong time - people are struggling,” Siva says.
Siva concludes by saying he believes offering the most competitive pricing could be his stores’ saving grace. “I had a meeting yesterday with my team. We tried to work out some bigger promotions to do, just so we’re not thinking about big basket spend. We’re looking at a very cheap deal for customers.
“I had a meeting with all the managers to try to keep the costs down as much as possible. We still try to make margins, make a profit, everything. Maybe we might look into the wages and also solar panels - I’m putting them up to try to save some money. That’s the only thing I can do. I’m going to see how they go this year…”
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