Nurturing his rapidly expanding retail operation has kept Christopher Kiley on his toes for nearly two decades.
He opened his first store, selling fresh fruit and vegetables, in Llandeilo, south Wales, in 1988. Now CK's Supermarkets has 18 stores across the region, offering an array of fresh produce.
"The past six months have been good," Kiley says.
"We bought three stores from Kwik Save about seven or eight months ago and they have been doing pretty well.
"We have also bought two brownfield sites - but we're being stalled on planning permission to build.
"Originally, we were told that the council wanted a thousand-year flood survey on the site, which held us up.
"We started doing the survey but how far back do records go? Not a thousand years.
"Then the government dumped the requirement, so we're looking at getting planning permission fairly soon. I'm hoping to have a meeting with the planning officer."
But red tape is not the only issue holding back Kiley's plans for the business.
He says developing his stores comes down to a single, overriding issue: how to find the money. "When you buy these sites it's not like it is for Tesco - we don't have a bottomless pit of money," he says.
"It's a case of seeing what you can fit on the site.
"Our stores all range between 3,000-8,000 sq ft. In the past year, we have bought sites, close to other shops that were smaller, to build on and replace them, and are always looking for new shops to buy.
"We have a store in Penclawdd (pictured) that we tried to open before Christmas as we have now closed the smaller one, but it will have to open in the new year because of setbacks caused by the weather."
The store will have a selling area of 10,000 sq ft and includes a bakery and butchery department.
Acquisitions are certainly one aspect to broadening his customer base, but Kiley claims his successes are down to offering customers more than they expect.
"We always try to top what you get elsewhere and we pride ourselves on our fresh meat and fresh fruit and vegetables," he says. "We have our own cooked meat counter that sells hot turkey, beef and tongue.
"We have been running cooked meat counters in-store since we started, almost 20 years ago. You have to have a point of difference in a shop. Earlier in the year, we were put up against the main multiples for a local award and won, which we were very pleased about. The award was only from a local paper, but it was for quality and price, as they took both those things into consideration."
Kiley believes health and safety is one of the most important issues in grocery retail, with hygiene at the very top of the agenda. "Tesco does it so well - you just have to get it right," he says. "You have to build the store and get that right, and then comes cleanliness. Customers really notice it. The range of products also has to be good. It seems obvious, but you really have to get the basics, such as milk and bread, right first before you focus on the rest."
With new stores in the pipeline, Kiley is aware reputation and first appearances matter to the customer and believes in the importance of good staff and neat presentation of the stores - as well as the importance of learning from past mistakes .
"I have made some howlers in my time," he says. "One of the most memorable was buying equipment at an auction, which turned out to be wrong for what I wanted. But it is all part of the learning curve."
One issue that continually plagues Kiley is loutish behaviour - and measures put in place to cut crime nationally seem to him to have had little effect. "Vandalism is the biggest issue for us," he says. "It's quite a prominent problem because there's quite a lot of it about."
In fact graffiti, theft from stores and the abuse of staff are all a problem for him. "We have CCTV to try to combat it and I seem to be on the phone to the police a lot, but the problem isn't going away or getting any better."it's in the blood
Supermarkets are in Christopher Kiley's blood. Before he started up CK's Supermarkets in 1988, Kiley worked for the family-run Julian's Supermarket, which his father started in the 1950s after leaving the army.
Kiley was familiar with the store, having played in it when he was growing up. After he left school at the age of 18 he went straight into the Swansea business and ended up running the store with his brother.
After 15 years working for his family, Kiley decided to go it alone and started CK's Supermarkets, with initially just one 4,500 sq ft store in Llandeilo. Three years later Kiley opened his second store. Now, almost 20 years after he opened the doors to his first store, he has 18 shops in the chain.
Kiley, who has now been a Nisa member for 25 years, says the best part of the move was working for himself, rather than for anyone else, and he did not find it hard to make the leap to running his own business.
However, he is open about mistakes he has made while building up his portfolio of stores, which include buying a store in a street that could not hold enough electricity to power the bakery.
He believes the main element of a successful business is employing good staff. "It begins and ends with staff," he says. "You need a good appearance and a good range of products, but staff are important."
He opened his first store, selling fresh fruit and vegetables, in Llandeilo, south Wales, in 1988. Now CK's Supermarkets has 18 stores across the region, offering an array of fresh produce.
"The past six months have been good," Kiley says.
"We bought three stores from Kwik Save about seven or eight months ago and they have been doing pretty well.
"We have also bought two brownfield sites - but we're being stalled on planning permission to build.
"Originally, we were told that the council wanted a thousand-year flood survey on the site, which held us up.
"We started doing the survey but how far back do records go? Not a thousand years.
"Then the government dumped the requirement, so we're looking at getting planning permission fairly soon. I'm hoping to have a meeting with the planning officer."
But red tape is not the only issue holding back Kiley's plans for the business.
He says developing his stores comes down to a single, overriding issue: how to find the money. "When you buy these sites it's not like it is for Tesco - we don't have a bottomless pit of money," he says.
"It's a case of seeing what you can fit on the site.
"Our stores all range between 3,000-8,000 sq ft. In the past year, we have bought sites, close to other shops that were smaller, to build on and replace them, and are always looking for new shops to buy.
"We have a store in Penclawdd (pictured) that we tried to open before Christmas as we have now closed the smaller one, but it will have to open in the new year because of setbacks caused by the weather."
The store will have a selling area of 10,000 sq ft and includes a bakery and butchery department.
Acquisitions are certainly one aspect to broadening his customer base, but Kiley claims his successes are down to offering customers more than they expect.
"We always try to top what you get elsewhere and we pride ourselves on our fresh meat and fresh fruit and vegetables," he says. "We have our own cooked meat counter that sells hot turkey, beef and tongue.
"We have been running cooked meat counters in-store since we started, almost 20 years ago. You have to have a point of difference in a shop. Earlier in the year, we were put up against the main multiples for a local award and won, which we were very pleased about. The award was only from a local paper, but it was for quality and price, as they took both those things into consideration."
Kiley believes health and safety is one of the most important issues in grocery retail, with hygiene at the very top of the agenda. "Tesco does it so well - you just have to get it right," he says. "You have to build the store and get that right, and then comes cleanliness. Customers really notice it. The range of products also has to be good. It seems obvious, but you really have to get the basics, such as milk and bread, right first before you focus on the rest."
With new stores in the pipeline, Kiley is aware reputation and first appearances matter to the customer and believes in the importance of good staff and neat presentation of the stores - as well as the importance of learning from past mistakes .
"I have made some howlers in my time," he says. "One of the most memorable was buying equipment at an auction, which turned out to be wrong for what I wanted. But it is all part of the learning curve."
One issue that continually plagues Kiley is loutish behaviour - and measures put in place to cut crime nationally seem to him to have had little effect. "Vandalism is the biggest issue for us," he says. "It's quite a prominent problem because there's quite a lot of it about."
In fact graffiti, theft from stores and the abuse of staff are all a problem for him. "We have CCTV to try to combat it and I seem to be on the phone to the police a lot, but the problem isn't going away or getting any better."it's in the blood
Supermarkets are in Christopher Kiley's blood. Before he started up CK's Supermarkets in 1988, Kiley worked for the family-run Julian's Supermarket, which his father started in the 1950s after leaving the army.
Kiley was familiar with the store, having played in it when he was growing up. After he left school at the age of 18 he went straight into the Swansea business and ended up running the store with his brother.
After 15 years working for his family, Kiley decided to go it alone and started CK's Supermarkets, with initially just one 4,500 sq ft store in Llandeilo. Three years later Kiley opened his second store. Now, almost 20 years after he opened the doors to his first store, he has 18 shops in the chain.
Kiley, who has now been a Nisa member for 25 years, says the best part of the move was working for himself, rather than for anyone else, and he did not find it hard to make the leap to running his own business.
However, he is open about mistakes he has made while building up his portfolio of stores, which include buying a store in a street that could not hold enough electricity to power the bakery.
He believes the main element of a successful business is employing good staff. "It begins and ends with staff," he says. "You need a good appearance and a good range of products, but staff are important."
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