RETAILER PROFILE
BAIJU JOSE MFG LONDIS BELLSHILL
HOW’S YOUR WEEK BEEN...
BAIJU JOSE? BELLSHILL RETAILER BAIJU JOSE’S FORECOURT REOPENED A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO AFTER A FULL REFIT AND REFRESH TO CONVERT THE MFG FORECOURT INTO A LONDIS – AND IT’S BEEN A GREAT COUPLE OF WEEKS WITH IMMEDIATE SALES HIKES.
HOW’S YOUR WEEK BEEN BAIJU? It’s been extremely busy but it’s been busy good. The store reopened two weeks ago after converting to Londis and it’s been an instant success. We’ve seen immediate sales increases of 15% on the week before, which is great as the store had already been performing to a very high level during the pandemic.
IT’S AN MFG STORE? Yes, I’m technically self-employed. MFG sites work on a ‘commission’ model. This store used to be an MRH site under the Hurst’s brand but when MFG bought MRH in December 2018 we became part of the bigger group and since then they have been working to convert all 900 or so UK sites to Londis.
WAS IT A MAJOR REFIT? Huge! It took four weeks in total and for a week of that we had to close the site altogether to allow for re-pumping and so on, which we couldn’t do with customers around. On the forecourt, we re-
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pumped every island and we also added Super Unleaded for the first time which meant bringing in a brand new storage tank, but it lets us broaden our offer to shoppers. We get a lot of HGV custom too, being so close to the M8 and various business parks, so we also decided to modernise the HGV pumps which lets HGVs fill up twice as quickly as before. Plus, we’ve added an Adblue option on every pump. We’ve also replaced all the signage and furniture and the car wash, so our overall forecourt offer is much stronger.
WHAT ABOUT THE STORE? To help us grow our retail offer, we increased the sales space by taking some space from what was the back store. It was bigger than we needed anyway, but that allowed us to add about a quarter more space to the shopfloor. Making that change means we now sit somewhere around the 2,000sq ft mark for retail space. That allowed us to bring in new products and services, and also let us grow some categories that are doing well and needed more space.
