The 31-strong Scottish Spar chain Botterills Convenience Stores aims to open four or five new stores in the next year, which should take annual sales to approximately £51m. Speaking at the company's awards dinner at the Crutherland Hotel, East Kilbride, chairman Jim Botterill spelt out the chain's future plans, and fired a warning at suppliers and his own staff. He said: "If we hit our target turnover it will represent an 8% increase on sales we achieved for the year to May 31, 2000. It is a realistic and sustainable expansion plan, which includes increasing our gross margin by 0.2%, taking it to nearly 21%, with a planned increase in net profit of 0.4%." Botterill said six refurbishments had been completed in the past 12 months at a cost of £135,000 and added: "We put in 11 more ATMs giving us 25 in total, which dispensed £90m, and we saw mobile phone top-up card sales reach £30,000 a week." Botterills has set aside £160,000 for store revamps in the current financial year, in addition to refurbishing five stores to Spar Millennium Store standard. In January, 15 stores will trial the M-box collection scheme for items ordered via the internet. Botterill called on suppliers for cost price reduction on key lines, bogof/combo deals and advertising monies to be spent locally. He said: "In return, we will provide increased volume, robust sales information and new line listings. "We will adhere to agreed ranges and agreed pricing via a central price file." Botterill also told staff that smiles without skills were no longer acceptable. He said: "There are more than 300,000 customer transactions in Botterills' stores every week, representing 300,000 sales opportunities, or 300,000 chances to make a mess of things." {{NEWS }}

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