Maypole: Not just another shop

The old business adage tells us that the ‘Customer is king’. The use of this phrase in marketing campaigns over the years has rendered it pretty much a cliché but, in reality, this reduces nothing from the principle from which it is coined.

Maypole shops have practically become landmarks, due to the wide distribution of their distinctive, inviting green signs.

At Maypole, we go beyond this, since we consider our customers to be our partners, and therefore direct all our efforts towards them. We work to make sure that the service we give to all our clients is of the highest standard, and that the quality of our product is maintained at the levels that they have come to expect. However, that is not enough. We currently have 27 retail outlets in Malta (with another one to open imminently in l-Ibraġġ), two in Gozo and two ‘Nenu the Artisan Baker’ restaurants serving traditional Maltese baked cuisine. Our staff receive constant training on how to make every patron who walks through our doors feel welcome and appreciated. Our constant efforts were rewarded and recognised when, in our first participation last year, Maypole won First Prize in ‘The Supermarkets and Mini Markets’ category of the Servizz bi Tbissima (Service with a Smile) Award organised by the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (MCCAA).

It is pertinent to underline the fact that the selection of the winners was through a process of voting by the general public that took place between the 23 July and the 20 August 2021. This means a lot to us, because it is not an award that is chosen top down, but bottom up, and it therefore reflects how we are perceived by the thousands of our regular clients who visit Maypole outlets on a daily basis. However, we do not intend to rest on our laurels. Complacency kills, and this recognition of our efforts and investments in 360° customer satisfaction has placed a bigger burden on our shoulders by establishing a higher bar that we now need - and want - to maintain. Our ‘customer first’ philosophy is not only implemented through the high quality and freshness of our products, and by our professional and welcoming staff. In establishing our outlets, we start first by selecting our locations. We have carefully sited our shops either in town or village cores, or else on thoroughfares, keeping in mind that our clients need to have their shopping experience to be as convenient and easy as possible, especially if doing last-minute shopping for daily essentials when driving back home after a long day’s work. Maypole shops have practically become landmarks, due to the wide distribution of their distinctive, inviting green signs. Having established our locations - an ongoing process as evidenced by some recent relocations and our plans for future shops - we take great care in stocking as wide a range of products as possible, aiming to make it easier for our clients to use Maypole outlets as a one-stop-shop for all their requirements. However, keeping our clients’ best interests at heart, there were some choices that had to be made.

We believe that there is nothing as welcoming as the smell of freshly-baked bread. This is so much so that, in other countries, many shops that sell bread go to the trouble of acquiring and using sprays to create this smell artificially. Having said that, we stress that we are primarily bakers, and therefore the smell in our shops is genuine, and really comes from freshly-baked and delivered bread, and not out of a spray can. Sebastian Debono, Maypole Director receiving the award Servizz bi Tbissima from MCCAA after classifying first in the category of Supermarkets and Mini Markets.

This meant that we had to avoid stocking, in any large quantity if at all, certain toiletries, soaps and detergents with an overpowering smell. Such a smell would not only have impacted negatively on the homely, warm character provided by the smell of freshly-baked bread, but would also create the undesirable risk of this smell pervading and permeating other products. We made this choice consciously, fully aware that this was an area where respect for our consumers had to come first, like they had placed us first in their assessment for the MCCAA award. We really and truly consider our clients to be our partners, and their satisfaction is our satisfaction.

We shall continue implementing our doctrine of strict controls on quality, hygiene, and pleasant service, keeping our customers’ interests always first and foremost. Maypole is a family concern catering for families on the Maltese Islands.

We are not, and never will be, just another shop. M+S