Anila Anwar reopens St Andrews store after three-month long, £250,000 refurb

A Costcutter store in St Andrews, Scotland has reopened following a three-month long refurbishment.

Retailer Anila Anwar, who has owned and operated the store for the past 18 years, having taken it over from her father who bought the store 40 years ago, invested £250,000 to extend the store frontage up to pavement level, increasing the shopfloor area by more than a third to 1,900 sq.ft.

“We’re absolutely delighted to have finally re-opening the store. It’s taken a full team effort to create the new-look store and Costcutter have guided and supported us through every stage of the journey, from planning the extension to range selection,” Anila said.

The store made use of shopper data, compiled as part of Costcutter Supermarket Group’s Shopper First: Drive Five to Thrive programme, to identify the growth areas for the store.

As the data pinpointed a mix of Younger Tonighters, looking for fresh easy meals to go, and Busy Impulsers, who want healthy and fresh produce for their families, key categories within the store now include an extensive chilled, frozen and hot food-to-go from the newly installed in-house bakery, as well as an extended craft ales and lagers, wines and spirits offer.

The store also offers shoppers access to hundreds of Co-op own brand products. Just as the summer temperatures are rising, the store also boasts gelato from its Fwip machine and slushies from a Snowshock Fizzee machine, in addition to an ATM, Paypoint and Lottery services.

“We’re now in a position where we can offer shoppers everything they need for a weekly shop and so much more, right on their doorstep. Feedback from shoppers has been incredibly positive, which makes all the upheaval worthwhile,” Anila added.