A York convenience store, after Having undergone renovations and improvements, has become part of the Go Local Extra network.
Beckfield Lane store is the city's first Go Local fascia store. Abhishek Sidhpura, who has operated his store since he acquired the premises in 2017, has extended his relationship with Parfetts Go Local Extra switching from previous convenience retailer Costcutter. He also has another store in Ripon, near Harrogate, which he has operated since 2019.
Sidhpura oversees the busy 1,350 sq ft store, which employs a team of ten people. As part of his move to Go Local Extra, he has undertaken significant store improvements, including Go Local Extra branding, a new front counter unit and an improved store layout with increased shelving space for greater stock variety.
Commenting on his store’s move to Go Local Extra, he said: “We’ve built up a great relationship with our customer base at this store, and I’m pleased that York has now got its first Go Local Extra. With the combination of a fresh new look and a range of relevant new offers and promotions, we are serving the local community by giving them a competitive convenience store that ticks all the boxes. Value and choice are key to my customers, and in becoming a Go Local Extra, they will not be disappointed with what we’ve got to offer.
“This store plays an important role in supporting local people in the surrounding community with their everyday shopping needs. Many of our regular customers rely on the shop for the items they need.”
New range additions to the store are designed to generate greater footfall, including an enhanced food-to-go offer featuring Tango Ice Blast and hot beverages. The store also boasts an impressive beer, wines and spirits section offering an extensive range of premium beers and spirits.
"The entire Parfetts team have been very positive, and getting hold of competitively priced stock has not been an issue. The support is also first class with a team who are always on hand to help us operate more efficiently. What I like is the feeling that, as retailers, we’re more than just a number - there’s a genuine family feel to the whole setup, which is great and perfectly suited to me as a businessman and the future development of the store. It’s great to be able to rely on this level of professional support and guidance without any interference in the day-to-day running," Sidhpura added.
Parfetts is an employee-owned business, and its employees play a significant role in the company’s success and its retailers.
Steve Moore, head of retail at Parfetts, said: “We've been working closely with Abhishek to get the store ready, ensuring it is well designed and fully stocked to meet the needs of new and existing customers. As a successful retailer, Abhishek has embraced the opportunity of operating York’s first Go Local Extra store with genuine enthusiasm, which we are confident will translate into strong sales and positive customer feedback.
“We are constantly investing to enhance the experience for users of our depots, delivered service and click and collect. Our retailers like regular promotions alongside our value proposition. Everything we do is designed to give retailers improved business performance, margins and footfall.”
Morrisons has announced its trading update for the fourth quarter (Q4) and full year 2023/24, showcasing a robust performance marked by significant operational and financial improvements.
The supermarket chain reported its strongest quarterly like-for-like (LFL) sales growth in nearly four years, alongside a notable increase in underlying EBITDA and total revenue.
For the 52 weeks ending 27 October 2024, Morrisons achieved a 4.1 per cent increase in Group LFL sales, with Q4 LFL sales rising by 4.9 per cent - the highest quarterly growth since early 2021. Underlying EBITDA surged by 11.2 per cent to £835 million, while total revenue climbed 3.8 per cent to £15.3 billion for the full year. Q4 revenue also saw a strong uptick, increasing by 4.8 per cent to £3.8 billion.
“This has been a year of urgent reinvigoration and positive progress for Morrisons. Customer transactions increased, market share grew from Q2, and we saw positive switching from our competitors,” Rami Baitiéh, chief executive, said, adding that improvements in availability, pricing, promotions, and the loyalty scheme have driven the financial performance.
The Morrisons More Card has been a standout success, with linked sales growing to 68 per cent at the year-end and reaching 76 per cent by the time of the update. “The More Card is firmly established as a customer favourite after a stunning year,” Baitiéh noted, with 3.5 million Morrisons Fivers redeemed during the two-week Christmas period.
Morrisons expanded its convenience store estate to over 1,600 stores and acquired 36 convenience stores in the Channel Islands in November 2024.
Two men have been arrested in connection with a series of armed robberies at convenience stores in mid-Ulster, which took place on Thursday (30).
The first incident occurred just before 7am at McCrystal’s Day-Today, a filling station on Ballinderry Bridge Road in Coagh. Two masked men, one wielding a handgun, entered the store and threatened staff, holding a weapon to one man's head before forcing him to open the till.
Shortly after, a second robbery took place at a supermarket on Shore Road in Ballyronan. Again, two armed men threatened staff at gunpoint, placing the firearm to the head of an employee before fleeing with cash and a quantity of cigarettes.
A third armed robbery was later reported at Lynch’s Spar on Moor Road in Clonoe, where the suspects again stole cash before making their escape.
Police Service of Northern Ireland informed, "Staff were threatened by two masked men - and were ordered to hand over a sum of cash.
“A blue Audi A6 – believed to have been used by the suspects, was stolen from outside an address in Portadown and later found on fire at Drumcree Community Centre.
“Tonight, Mid Ulster detectives conducted a number of searches at properties in the Churchill Park area of Portadown. Two men, aged in their 30s and 50s, were arrested on suspicion of a number of offences in connection with the investigation.
"An electronic device was also seized for forensic examination. “They have both been taken to police custody for questioning."
Meanwhile, the incident was slammed by a leading Northern Ireland retailers' body.
Commenting on the three-armed robberies of Retail NI members in Mid Ulster, Retail NI Chief Executive Glyn Roberts said, "“These robberies on our members are utterly disgraceful and if anyone in the local community has any information, please contact the PSNI”.
“We shouldn’t forget these are independent retailers that go above and beyond to serve their local community. Our thoughts are with the staff who have traumatised by these despicable attacks”.
“Retailers are sadly experiencing record levels of assault of shop staff, shoplifting and robberies. It is crucially important that the Department of Justice include the assault of shop staff in the forthcoming Sentencing Bill”.
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A general view of the Sevington Inland Border Facility sign on February 09, 2024 in Ashford, UK
The delayed third phase of Britain's post-Brexit border regime for imports from the European Union will begin on Friday - four years after Britain left the bloc's single market and nine years after it voted to leave the EU.
After Brexit, such was the scale of Britain's task to untangle supply chains and erect customs borders, that it only started imposing new rules last year.
The first phase of Britain's new border model requiring additional certification for some goods came into force at the end of January last year. A second phase followed at the end of April, introducing physical checks at ports for products such as meat, fish, cheese, eggs, dairy products and some cut flowers. New charges were also introduced.
From Friday, a third phase, delayed from Oct. 31 last year, will kick off, with businesses moving goods from the EU to Britain required to comply with new UK safety and security declaration requirements - detailed information about the products being shipped.
HM Revenue and Customs said mandatory collection of the data would enable "more intelligent risking of goods", with legitimate goods less likely to be held up at the border. It said this would mean less disruption to businesses whilst preventing illegal and dangerous goods entering the UK.
But it warned businesses that declarations must be submitted before goods arrived at the UK border to avoid them being held up for unnecessary checks and possible penalties.
While Britain's major retailers and large EU exporting businesses have the resources to handle the demands of the new border regime, smaller retailers and wholesalers have complained it is disproportionately burdensome.
Plans to extend physical checks to fruit and vegetables have been delayed several times and in September last year were pushed out again to July 1 this year.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said on Sunday, she was "happy to look at" an idea, put forward last week by European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, that Britain could join a pan-European customs scheme. The scheme is not the same as the EU's full customs union, which the Labour government has said it will not rejoin.
Many people working in shops in Hartlepool Borough are "afraid to come to work" due to fear of violence and abuse linked to thefts, shows a recent survey of businesses.
The feedback forms part of a consultation on the experiences of business owners and retailer held by Hartlepool Borough Council. The survey was carried out from November to January, BBC reported citing the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Respondents talked about a "fear of violence, verbal abuse and threatening behaviour", council officers said.
At an audit and governance committee meeting held recently, scrutiny and legal support officer Gemma Jones said some businesses reported their staff had "experienced actual violence".
Speaking about the criminals targeting shops and businesses, scrutiny manager Joan Stevens said, "The cohort of reoffenders is relatively small and they're responsible for a large amount of the retail crime or thefts that exist in the town."
She added that data indicated "over 50 per cent of theft appears to be driven by substance misuse issues", which was supported by findings from police interviews with offenders.
Meanwhile, the meeting was told "it didn't appear that the cost of living crisis was a significant impact" in driving retail crime.
The consultation was carried out as part of the committee's investigation into "ways of designing out and reducing incidents of retail crime".
It will culminate in a final report in March.Councillors also saw data from Cleveland Police which indicated that "70 per cent of thefts in Hartlepool are actually undertaken by 12 individuals".
The survey report comes a day after it was reported that theft and violence against retail workers in Britain soared to record levels last year and are "out of control", driven partly by criminal gangs.
Industry body the British Retail Consortium's (BRC) annual crime survey released on Thursday (30) found more than 20 million incidents of theft were committed in the year to 31 August 2024, which equates to 55,000 a day, costing retailers a total £2.2 billion.
The BRC said many more incidents in the latest period were linked to organised crime, with gangs systematically targeting stores across the country.
Incidents of violence and abuse in 2023/24 climbed to over 2,000 per day, up from 1,300 the year before. This is more than three times what it was in 2020, when there were just 455 incidents a day.
Incidents included racial or sexual abuse, physical assault or threats with weapons. There were 70 incidents per day which involved a weapon, more than double the previous year.
Shoplifting offences in England and Wales have hit new record high of nearly 500,000 crimes last year, shows new Office for National Statistics (ONS) data published today (30).
With such offences already hitting their highest level last year since records began in the year to March 2003, new ONS data showed shoplifting crimes have continued to increase in England and Wales.
There were 492,914 shoplifting offences recorded by police in the year to September, which was up 23 per cent from 402,482 in the previous 12 months prior and is equivalent to 1,350 such crimes every day.
More broadly, the ONS said its latest crime survey indicated a 12 per cent rise in incidents of headline crime – including theft, robbery, criminal damage, fraud and violence – over the past year, when there were an estimated 9.5 million incidents.
This was mainly fuelled by a 19 per cent rise in fraud, of which there were close to four million incidents – a level similar to that last seen before the pandemic.
Dr Billy Gazard of the ONS said that the recent rise has been driven by a significant increase in fraud, notably bank and credit account, and consumer and retail fraud.
“Shoplifting offences continue to rise, reaching almost half a million in the year ending September 2024, the highest figure since current police recording practices began," he said.
The alarming figures came as a separate survey by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) found that incidents of retail crime – including racial and sexual abuse, physical assault and threats with weapons – have reached three times the level they were in 2020.
There were more than 2,000 incidents a day over the past year, including 70 per day involving a weapon, which is more than double the previous year, the BRC said.
Some 61 per cent of respondents described the police response to incidents as “poor” or “very poor”, although 3 per cent described it as “excellent” – the first time in five years that any retailers have rated it as such.
Theft also reached an all-time high with more than 20 million incidents – or over 55,000 a day – costing retailers £2.2bn, up from £1.8bn the previous year.
According to Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of BRC, people in retail have been spat on, racially abused, and threatened with machetes.
"Every day this continues, criminals are getting bolder and more aggressive. We owe it to the three million hardworking people working in retail to bring the epidemic of crime to heel. No one should go to work in fear.
“With little faith in police attendance, it is no wonder criminals feel they have licence to steal, threaten, assault and abuse. Retailers are spending more than ever before, but they cannot prevent crime alone.
"We need the police to respond to and handle every reported incident appropriately. We look forward to seeing crucial legislation to protect retail workers being put in place later this year. Only if the industry, Government and police work together, can we finally see this awful trend reverse.”