This month: the CTN. Retail guru Geoff Burch visist Simon Blendell, who despite lacking retail experience bought a small c-store in March and is now making its restricted space sweat hard. Indeed, he has lessons for more seasoned retailers
Having spent the last couple of weeks giving journalists my views on the devastation of the high street, my first question to Simon Bendall was: "Why swap a successful building and maintenance business for a newsagency and c-store?" Had he not seen the boarded-up windows of small businesses crushed by big supermarkets?
Simon explains he was offered a rather rundown shop by a relative in March this year. Although he had no retail experience, the energetic and enthusiastic Simon felt he could make it earn more than the £3,000 a week it was turning over at the time. He is making a pretty good fist of it, too, and the store is now pulling in about £5,000 a week. Now he wants to take it to the next level.
To describe Station News in Shrewsbury as small would be an understatement. With about 40 sq m of floorspace, tiny would be more accurate. It is a really weird shape, too like a thin wedge of cheese. The one thing the layout has in its favour is that the frontage is on the longest wall, so there is still plenty for the punters to see.
Simon reminded me of Tigger as he bounced around his microscopic empire, gesticulating wildly. His lack of retail background means he has no preconceptions and he has done his own shopfitting, building fitments simply because he felt needed them. He is particularly proud of his crisp area, which, while a bit utilitarian, solves storage and display problems that most of us hadn't even thought about.
Operating out of a tiny venue has forced him to think carefully about his fixtures, but it has also taught him to be disciplined with the space he has. Bigger venues tend to allow the weird, the cheap, and the unsaleable to creep on to shelves. It doesn't bother them as it's just a bit of shelf space, but for Simon 'just a bit of shelf space' is something that must be treasured.
Nothing gets on his shelves without passing a strict business test. I ask why Simon doesn't sell many penny sweets. He knows they sell well, but he also knows a large box costs £3 and brings in £6. That means a big area of shelf only has the potential to earn £3 in profit and only after 600 transactions.
With space at a premium, Simon only stocks lines that give him a decent return. Evian costs him 60p a bottle and sells for 70p. Given a choice between Evian or unbranded bottled water, consumers will take the brand they recognise. However, if he dedicates the shelf to unbranded bottled water he buys for 10p, thirsty shoppers will still buy it for 70p.
Simon has learnt which areas require quality products, too. His shop is on Shrewsbury station concourse, giving him a perfect opportunity to sell sandwiches. But when I tell him I am expecting the usual factory-made sandwiches he jumps down my throat. "These are freshly made and local!" he cries.
When he took the shop on, Simon tried the mass-produced margarine and cardboard bread ones from the sandwich factory. Although he was offered good mark up and sale or return they didn't taste very nice (readers, this is important go and eat one of your sandwiches. If you think they are horrid, your customers will, too).
So he employed a clever tactic with a whiff of blackmail about it. He told a nearby sandwich shop he would open in competition if they didn't supply him at a generous discount and it worked. My only issue was that the maker's name was on them. I would have my own branding.
Simon clearly knows how to deal with suppliers. An ice cream company offered him more than £400 worth of free product if he bought a £400 freezer. He rejected it as a bad deal in the long term, bought his own freezer for £170 and filled it for £100. Many retailers would not have bothered to look beyond the offer of free stuff.
Station News isn't perfect by any means. For instance, all the sign writing looks like it is done in felt tip, which I think is very unprofessional. The shop sells takeaway tea and coffee but you'd have to be psychic to know it, as a tiny handwritten card behind the ciggy shelf is the only clue. The truth is that signage is Simon's bête noire. The outside should have colourful, bright signage to alert passers by. Instead, there are two small signs in the window. One says 'newsagents', the other 'open'.
The former owners of the boarded-up shops on our high streets will tell you a c-store is not the way to make money, but Simon doesn't agree. Despite taking over a shop in the teeth of a recession, he is making more per square metre of floorspace than retailers with years of experience. Six months in he is convinced he can grow this business and I'm sure he's right. If it were my store, I would take a punt and put in a proper Italian steam coffee machine. Then I'd buy a big sign telling people to come and get the best coffee in Shrewsbury from the best little shop in Shrewsbury.
Having spent the last couple of weeks giving journalists my views on the devastation of the high street, my first question to Simon Bendall was: "Why swap a successful building and maintenance business for a newsagency and c-store?" Had he not seen the boarded-up windows of small businesses crushed by big supermarkets?
Simon explains he was offered a rather rundown shop by a relative in March this year. Although he had no retail experience, the energetic and enthusiastic Simon felt he could make it earn more than the £3,000 a week it was turning over at the time. He is making a pretty good fist of it, too, and the store is now pulling in about £5,000 a week. Now he wants to take it to the next level.
To describe Station News in Shrewsbury as small would be an understatement. With about 40 sq m of floorspace, tiny would be more accurate. It is a really weird shape, too like a thin wedge of cheese. The one thing the layout has in its favour is that the frontage is on the longest wall, so there is still plenty for the punters to see.
Simon reminded me of Tigger as he bounced around his microscopic empire, gesticulating wildly. His lack of retail background means he has no preconceptions and he has done his own shopfitting, building fitments simply because he felt needed them. He is particularly proud of his crisp area, which, while a bit utilitarian, solves storage and display problems that most of us hadn't even thought about.
Operating out of a tiny venue has forced him to think carefully about his fixtures, but it has also taught him to be disciplined with the space he has. Bigger venues tend to allow the weird, the cheap, and the unsaleable to creep on to shelves. It doesn't bother them as it's just a bit of shelf space, but for Simon 'just a bit of shelf space' is something that must be treasured.
Nothing gets on his shelves without passing a strict business test. I ask why Simon doesn't sell many penny sweets. He knows they sell well, but he also knows a large box costs £3 and brings in £6. That means a big area of shelf only has the potential to earn £3 in profit and only after 600 transactions.
With space at a premium, Simon only stocks lines that give him a decent return. Evian costs him 60p a bottle and sells for 70p. Given a choice between Evian or unbranded bottled water, consumers will take the brand they recognise. However, if he dedicates the shelf to unbranded bottled water he buys for 10p, thirsty shoppers will still buy it for 70p.
Simon has learnt which areas require quality products, too. His shop is on Shrewsbury station concourse, giving him a perfect opportunity to sell sandwiches. But when I tell him I am expecting the usual factory-made sandwiches he jumps down my throat. "These are freshly made and local!" he cries.
When he took the shop on, Simon tried the mass-produced margarine and cardboard bread ones from the sandwich factory. Although he was offered good mark up and sale or return they didn't taste very nice (readers, this is important go and eat one of your sandwiches. If you think they are horrid, your customers will, too).
So he employed a clever tactic with a whiff of blackmail about it. He told a nearby sandwich shop he would open in competition if they didn't supply him at a generous discount and it worked. My only issue was that the maker's name was on them. I would have my own branding.
Simon clearly knows how to deal with suppliers. An ice cream company offered him more than £400 worth of free product if he bought a £400 freezer. He rejected it as a bad deal in the long term, bought his own freezer for £170 and filled it for £100. Many retailers would not have bothered to look beyond the offer of free stuff.
Station News isn't perfect by any means. For instance, all the sign writing looks like it is done in felt tip, which I think is very unprofessional. The shop sells takeaway tea and coffee but you'd have to be psychic to know it, as a tiny handwritten card behind the ciggy shelf is the only clue. The truth is that signage is Simon's bête noire. The outside should have colourful, bright signage to alert passers by. Instead, there are two small signs in the window. One says 'newsagents', the other 'open'.
The former owners of the boarded-up shops on our high streets will tell you a c-store is not the way to make money, but Simon doesn't agree. Despite taking over a shop in the teeth of a recession, he is making more per square metre of floorspace than retailers with years of experience. Six months in he is convinced he can grow this business and I'm sure he's right. If it were my store, I would take a punt and put in a proper Italian steam coffee machine. Then I'd buy a big sign telling people to come and get the best coffee in Shrewsbury from the best little shop in Shrewsbury.
No comments yet