A new One Stop store in Coity, Bridgend in south Wales has opened to a rousing reception from the local community, with sales touching £40,000 in the first week.
The 2,900 sq ft store has been opened at the former Mole Valley Farmers, retailer Paul Thomas’s second One Stop franchise.
With over 1,500 brand new houses in the area, the local Coity community is expanding rapidly and the store has seen a huge surge of sales in the first few weeks of opening. The store offers an extensive range of food to go and vending services and an exciting 300 sq ft beer cave, fully stocked with beers and wines.
“The store’s bigger than a lot of convenience stores and I was looking to maximise the space and potential, by including things they may not have seen previously,” commented Thomas.
“The lighted fixtures make everything look exciting and are easy for people to notice. One Stop’s strong promotions and range accompany this amazingly, we’re seeing customers come in with their families for weekly shops.”
Beer Cave
Situated at the front of the store customers can enjoy F’real Milkshakes, F’wip Ice Cream, Tango Ice Blast, Rollover Hotdogs, Rustlers Burgers and Country Choice lines. Throughout the store there is clear category signage and the beer cave and food to go areas have large lighted fixtures, drawing in customers’ attention.
“As we’re situated between the houses and industrial units, we’re also getting a lot of workers come in for the amazing One Stop £3 meal deal. We traded over £10,000 a day on the opening weekend and over £40,000 a week since. We have seen so many happy customers, they all seem to be really enjoying what’s on offer here,” Thomas added.
The store also benefits from a large car park, a bike shelter, a seating area with charging points for mobile phones and laptop, where customers can take a break and eat products in-store after the lockdown restrictions ease.
“Paul has taken a slightly different approach with this store. He’s researched and thought about the best range of services he needed to attract customers from both the industrial and residential areas. Paul always puts in a lot of effort to give back to the communities he serves, and the customer engagement has been magnificent,” commented John Miller, head of franchise at One Stop.
Food to go and vending services
In line with the latest Welsh government initiative to become a ‘Refill Nation’, the store provides free water refills for customers. The free water unit in store is designed to encourage the use of reusable bottles and provides options for customers to purchase one if they do not have one.
Thomas has plans to expand his both stores. “I’m really happy with the proposition at One Stop, why fix something that’s not broken? We’re going to continue to expand on our offerings and we are looking to extend our first One Stop store, seeing the results from Coity. We’re also looking to trial self-checkouts in our latest store, to see how we can provide even more ease for our customers.”
