Talking Retail Grocery and product news for independent retailers
The new 3,000sq ft store, developed on a greenfield site in Ensleigh, Bath, follows the opening of a Spar store in Shaftesbury last year by the Latestop team of Greg Gardner, Mark Vinnicombe, and Kevin Farley.
Gardner said: “Given the location and demographics of the area, it gave us the opportunity to plan it as a true ‘top-up’ neighbourhood store.
“We are championing local products, as well as including many specialist products along with a wide range of Cook Frozen Foods, a dispenser offering fresh west country milk in reusable glass bottles, Costa Coffee, a fizzy slush machine and a full bake-off which supplements and complements the full standard convenience store offer.”
Gardner added: “Having set the store up with an above average space allocation for chilled foods, in-store bake off and fruit and vegetables, it was gratifying to see the store not only far outstrip its sales budget, but also see these sections far exceeding their expectations at the expense of lower margin categories. Customer reaction has been excellent and the store benefits from a very solid core catchment area.”
The team also has three other stores in South Gloucestershire, Bournemouth, and Taunton also under the Spar banner and awaiting redevelopment. Latestop also operates further two convenience stores in the south west with Costcutter.
