Independent Spar retailer, David Gregson, is celebrating 50 years of owning his family’s Kirkby Stephen High Street store in Cumbria.
The Gregson family acquired the store from the Woodcock family in 1976. It had been converted to Spar four years earlier in 1972 in association with James Hall & Co. Ltd.
To mark five decades of serving the town’s community, birthday cake was served to customers, who could also try their hand at spinning the Spar wheel to win prizes, with David even selling selected products at 1970s prices.
These included a four-pack of Spar toilet rolls at 72p, cans of Spar’s coke and lemonade at 13p, Easy Non-bio washing powder at 71p, custard creams at 16p, a 1kg bag of flour for 39p and Dolly Mix and Smash at just 23p each.
A cheese and wine night was also held, with food samples from Clayton Park Bakery and Fazilas offered to customers. The Kirkby Stephen Silver Band performed outside the store.
David is the sixth generation to run stores locally, with the family’s first store opening in nearby Warcop in 1829. That store was a Spar between 1974 and 1996 but closed in 2007 when David’s dad Michael retired.
Andrew Hall, chairman and CEO of James Hall & Co. Ltd, visited Kirkby Stephen during the celebrations to present a framed photo of the Gregson family to David and Valerie in recognition of 50 years of partnership.
David said: “It’s been wonderful to be with Spar for so long. We joined when the supermarkets started to grow. My family believed they would be better off as part of something bigger and that has proved to be the case.
“We’ve always enjoyed helping people out and accommodating their needs.”
“My family has always had shops. I think we’ve always enjoyed helping people out and accommodating their needs. My dad had a view that ‘if we haven’t got it, we’ll get it’. His Spar in Warcop had everything, and I’ve tried to follow that with the store in Kirkby Stephen.
“I have some great memories. On one occasion when we used to range household items and clothing I was advised to focus on grocery products on a visit by my Spar representative who took a particular focus on some check shirts.
“Within the same minute a farmer’s wife - still a regular customer to this day - came into the store and bought three of them right in front of him. He was totally convinced it was a set up! To me and the family, it was about knowing your customer, which is why we sold them.
“It’s also been a story of great progress. Our three-day full refit eight years ago was outstanding. My store has also benefited massively from solar panels installed with my Harvest funding through James Hall - 70% of my annual electricity use is generated by these now.
“More recently, Spar’s Price Locked has been positive, my younger customers have really taken to Spar Rewards, and the gamification campaigns have been big drivers of footfall. Having a single pick option on some ambient lines has been very helpful for me too.”
Fifty years has also meant David has enjoyed several constants with the people who have worked in the store, while seeing a lot of challenge and change in convenience retail. He said: “I’ve been very lucky to have had a brilliant team of staff across 50 years, and many of them have been long serving.
“One of them, Brenda, did nearly 40 years, and two of my current team - Carol and Judith - have both done well over 30 years each. I have a couple of others in the team who’ve worked in the store a decade or more.
“The change to later opening hours and Spar’s Eight till Late slogan was a huge move for us as a business in 1989, including Sunday opening at both Warcop and at Kirkby Stephen. We’d never have changed unless we’d been encouraged to do so by Spar and James Hall.
“My dad was a religious man, and I remember on the first Sunday we opened we took £600 which was a fantastic day of trade. The first customer was a vicar. My dad could not believe it!
“Having the support of James Hall during the pandemic was amazing. Who set off the rush for toilet rolls? I’ll never know, but the buying at James Hall was superb. I filled the room above the store with them and had to restrict sales. I had folk ringing the store from as far away as Sunderland enquiring about them.
“The pandemic also meant I was down to three staff due to shielding at a time when the store was busier than it’s ever been. I had 38 cages of stock being delivered on my main order day plus my daily fresh foods which was unheard of!
“I was taking orders on the phone and volunteers were delivering them. I took on a couple of 15-year-old lads as I could not manage it on my own, one of whom, Jacob, is still working at the store today. The camaraderie was amazing and that support was invaluable to the business. Convenience retail had its moment, and the community all pulled together.”
No comments yet