Family opens flagship Spar forecourt store

The project was undertaken by Olly Andrews, owner of Maiden Newton Service Station, with Appleby Westward, the regional distribution company for Spar stores in the south west.

The investment began in autumn with a £250,000 expansion of the garage forecourt involving the installation of new fuel tanks, pumps, pipework and the introduction of supreme grades of diesel and unleaded Texaco petrol.

This spring the £200,000 Spar forecourt store expansion got under way, increasing the size of the store to 2,425sq ft and introducing new features.

Andrews said: “Basically, we’ve safeguarded the whole site and future-proofed it for many years ahead. We reopened the new-look store just before the Covid-19 crisis and were already attracting new customers quicker than we thought.”

During lockdown, new staff were taken on as the store ramped up home deliveries to customers in Maiden Newton and surrounding villages.

The store features a dedicated meat counter serving produce supplied by a local farmer, and fresh fruit and vegetable stands have contributed to big increases in sales. Also featured are a wider choice of chilled and frozen products including the popular Cook’s frozen meals range, and an extended, dedicated off licence section.

Outside the store, a wooden hut dedicated to the sale of fresh organic milk from a local farm has proved very popular, set up with a self-serve contactless vending machine making the whole transaction easy and safe.

Andrews added: “We made the store more spacious by taking in part of an old workshop. It’s wheelchair-friendly and represents the third major extension we have made in the last seven years, enhancing the full convenience offer we are able to provide to the local community.”

The Andrews family has run the business for more than 40 years and Olly took over the business from his mother Melodie eight years ago after 15 years in business management. The store has been trading under the Spar fascia for more than 20 years.