Nisa retailer Douglas Fraser has invested £260,000 to to rejuvenate the building and provide fresh propositions hence enhancing the convenience offering in Thurso in the north coast of Scotland.
The store, which opened its doors again to the public in early March after a three week shutdown, now boasts an impressive Food to Go section including hot bake & bite food, Rollover hotdogs, an fwip ice cream machine and a new Skwishee machine offering frozen raspberry, mad mango and redberrylicious flavours. Also popular with passing trade is the newly installed Smokin’ Bean coffee machine.
“We had to think about what the next big opportunity is and without a doubt we’ve found it in the new food-to-go section,” said the store’s director Lesley Mill. “The reaction has been crazy from customers and we are getting the best part of £1,000 a day through the machines.”
Maintaining prominent local links, the store offers a range of freshly made bakery products, sandwiches and pastries from local suppliers.
“We’re a store with the community at the heart of what we do so we had to make sure we work with local suppliers where we can,” added Lesley. “It is a point of difference for us compared to some of our larger competitors and we know if we can support them, they will support us.”
A newly installed beer cave and brand-new chillers have also proved popular and help differentiate the store to local competitors. The store also offers the National Lottery, PayPoint and a free to use ATM for customers.
Early customer reaction has been extremely positive with average basket spend up following the refurbishment.
As well as supporting local suppliers, the store plays an important role in supporting local community groups through Nisa’s Making a Difference Locally charity. To date, the store has donated over £15,000 to initiatives including Thurso Community Café, Caithness Mental Health Support Group and Thurso High School.
Lesley concluded: “We needed the store to be far more energy efficient so this was the perfect opportunity to go ahead with the refurbishment. The response from customers has been amazing. They think they’re in an upmarket Marks & Spencers or something like that! It is early days and there will be lessons to be learned but we are delighted with the early reaction.”
Phil Knox, retail development manager at Nisa, added, “This has been a brilliant project to be involved with and full credit to Douglas and the team for the high standards this store now shows. The store is working with a host of suppliers both nationally and locally and I can’t wait to see where this store will progress to over the coming months. A lot of credit must also go to Thomas Bryce in Nisa’s store development team who has done a wonderful job working with Douglas.”
Simon Hannah
