There are smiles all round at Welcome Co-op Faversham in Kent as Sandeep Bains’ wife Sonia hugs him tightly and tells him how proud she is - and rightly so. It’s not every week you re-open your store after a major refit AND pick up Customer Delivery Retailer of the Year at the Convenience Awards.
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After staying up until 1am the night before to ensure that the store was looking its best for the big day, Sandeep is visibly relieved that the launch day is finally here, conceding that it has been an “intense” few days for himself, his team, his suppliers, and his wider Southern Co-op team, who have been on hand to support him throughout the process.
The previously L-shaped store now has a much more open layout thanks to the 200sq ft extension, and refit completed by Link Shopfitting, which has improved shopper navigation, enabling Sandeep to clearly differentiate multiple shopper missions.
In the first aisle, a vibrant food to go offer features a new Calippo machine, Rollover hotdogs, Pret coffee and the newly-installed impulse bakery displayed in a bespoke stand. Blucozade is on a free standing display unit opposite and samples are offered to customers as they enter the store.
An extra metre of space came to light during the final weeks of the refit and Sandeep opted to fill this with an impulse ice cream freezer, to capitalise on the shop’s location directly opposite a park.
An Aquavape stand has prime position at the store entrance, alongside the till point, a news stand and fresh flowers.
The store now boasts an extended chilled range, enabling Sandeep to better serve lunchtime and meal for tonight occasions with a wider range of fresh and luxury products, such as the Co-op Irresistible pizza range and Co-op steaks.
A number of premium products around the store, including the steaks, have Chirp-Protect security tags to deter shoplifters. If the tags aren’t deactivated by cashiers at the shop counter, they will set off an alarm at the store exit to alert staff to shoplifters. The store also has bepoke in-store radio from Retail AI, and Sandeep will be looking to install the group’s anti-shoplifting system over the summer.
Two long lines of shelving now run from front to back of store, with a spacious central aisle housing a vast range of American candy and freeze-dried confectionery from new supplier Exploded Sweets. A little girl enters the store ahead of her mother on C-Store’s visit and her gasp is audible as she takes in the stunning sweetie selection and shouts: “Look Mum - it’s huge!”
Other shoppers are equally impressed - regular customer Jane takes her time checking out the store’s new features and is especially enthralled by the Cook Frozen foods offer, which comprises two freezers highlighted by a bright white tiled wall complete with striking POS.
Meanwhile, an elderly gent piles his basket high with Praveen Kumar premium frozen curries, which are currently on a meal deal promotion. Sited adjacent to the Cook offer is an upright freezer filled with the authentic Indian curries, while Kumar himself is stood at the front of the store offering samples of his aromatic cuisine. The curries are created with spices grown on his family’s farm in India and some dishes contain seasonal herbs and vegetables grown by Kumar near his home in Perthshire.
Behind Kumar’s sampling table stands the new alcohol zone, which has seen the wine fridge move next to the beer chillers. The dedicated area is purposely spacious to allow customers plenty of time to browse the wide array of wines, beers, and ciders. The section includes a range of large multipacks, encouraging shoppers to make use of the store’s delivery service, which is run in partnership with Snappy Shopper.
A huge focus for the refit is growing the delivery side of the business. The refit has seen the store’s VME epos system integrated with Snappy Shopper so that promotions will show up on the app in real time. The brand’s POS is visible throughout the store and head of business improvement Ian Barclay has flown in from Scotland to host a hilarious one minute ‘Snappy dash’ around the store, which is streamed live onto the store’s newly reinstated Facebook page, much to the delight of its 2.3k followers.
While Sandeep films the event on his phone, every manic moment of the dash is also captured by Empros Media founder Harris Ahmed, who has been filming the store for the past two days in order to create engaging online content. The expert content creator, who works in partnership with Snappy, will maximise the excitement around the store’s launch and highlight key store features across the shop’s social media platforms over the coming weeks and months.
Lucky customers Kate and Ali, who take part in the the shopping spree, are elated to leave the store with bags laden with goodies, but no one is more delighted than Sandeep.
“I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone for helping bring this together,” he says. “I’m very grateful.
“I would hope that come three months after the refit, we can run the numbers and be in a healthier position in terms of profitability and sales.”
We’ll be following up with Sandeep over the summer, but for now it’s time to celebrate the journey so far and reap the rewards as customers come from far and wide to check out their stunning new store.
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Missed part of the journey?
Catch up here:
Sandeep’s Store Journey part 1
Sandeep’s Store Journey part 2
Sandeep’s Store Journey part 3
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