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Barrow welcomes new store

A former Co-op store in Cumbria has been given a new lease of life.

Retailers Kaz and Paul Stephenson have given a new lease of life to a former Co-op store in Cumbria that stood empty for more than six months.

The couple, who have operated multiple Bargain Booze stores across the north of England for more than 20 years, have now opened a 2,200sq ft Nisa Local in the town of Barrow-in-Furness.

The store has undergone a full refit to Nisa’s latest Evolution format incorporating almost 20m of food chillers and 9m for chilled off-licence.

Food- and drinks-to-go include Costa Express, Skwishee, Country Choice bake off, with F’Real to follow.

In addition, the store features two self-scan tills and a two-position counter with a Glory till and payment system installed.

Kaz said: “We knew the look that we wanted and had the vision in our heads, it was a case of working with our store development manager to get it right. We’re really pleased with it. Shoppers have been coming in and absolutely loving it.”

Local suppliers are another key feature, with Lakes ice-cream and a freshly-made authentic Thai meal offer alongside a locally-produced toffee vodka. “Our aim is to make much more of the local suppliers and increase the amount of locally-sourced products in the store to encourage our customers to shop and support local businesses,” Kaz added.

She says existing Co-op shoppers have returned to the store. “The Co-op range works really well for us. Customers know and like the products and lots of people are coming in for the things they used to buy before the store closed.

“It will take a bit of time and a few tweaks to get everything in and find out what everyone wants, but it has been a great start and we are really happy with the response so far.”