Store manager: Mark Jones
Store: Plas Coch Park, Wrexham
Opened: 1991
Size: 51,044 sq ft
Market share: 7.7%
Population: 203,320
Grocery spend: £41,446,265
Spend by household: £470.26
Competitors: 46
Nearest rivals: Aldi 0.1 miles, Asda 1.1 miles, Co-op 0.6 miles, Iceland 0.9 miles, Lidl 1.0 miles, M&S 1.2 miles, Morrisons 1.0 miles, Sainsbury’s 1.9 miles, Tesco 0.8 miles, Waitrose 10.9 miles
Source: CACI. For more info visit www.caci.co.uk/contact. Notes: Shopper profiling is measured using Grocery Acorn shopper segmentation. Store catchment data (market share, population, expenditure, spend by household, competition) is within a five-mile radius. For CACI’s shopper segmentation of the other stores we visited this week see the online report at www.thegrocer.co.uk/stores/the-grocer-33
How long have you worked in retail? I’ve worked for Sainsbury’s for 23 years. I’ve been store manager here for just under 18 months, but I’ve probably spent a good 10 years of my career here. It’s my third spell. I’d spent 10 years away from the store, running some of our smaller supermarkets. When my boss asked me what I wanted next, it was Wrexham.
So, what makes this store so special to you? It’s the people. There’s a phenomenal group of 220 colleagues. They’re just nice, genuine people. It’s a working-class area, there’s not many airs and graces around Wrexham. People just want to come to work every day and do a good job.
This is a destination store. What are people buying? Saturday was St David’s Day so it was Welsh cakes, daffodils and Welsh gins. But it’s typically big trolley shops, with big spends on weekends. Wrexham is a bit of a student town, so pot noodles and cans are popular – anything that’s easy to prepare.
Wrexham has had a lot of investment, notably through the football team’s Hollywood owners. What’s been the impact on the store? The biggest thing has been more international shoppers, particularly Americans. A lot of people now ask for products like Wrexham Lager because they want to take that home. Because we’re so close to the stadium, customers will book car parking slots via an app on match days. It’s just bought a different, positive energy to the town and the shop.
How are you trying to capitalise on the increased demand for local produce? We’d love to do more of it, and it’s something I’m working on with my boss. We sell a lot of Welsh products already, like Welsh Brew Tea, Village Bakery bread rolls, cheese, even our milk is Welsh. But we’ve got an opportunity for products like lamb. I’m also looking at how we can create permanent space dedicated to Welsh products and we’re also talking to the beer team about how we can increase our range of Wrexham Lager.
Our shopper was surprised at how many manned checkouts were open. Is that something shoppers have requested? What this tells me is that my team are present and are listening to our shoppers. I’m delighted. We try and get the balance right. We will always open a till for a customer when they need it. It’s about us recognising the demand. One of our key measures is how quickly customers can get through the store, pay and get out.
Unfortunately, Wrexham was affected by recent café closures. What are your plans for the space? I don’t know, but it’s likely to become a concession. Our pizza counter is also closing, again I don’t have any store specific plans but it’s likely to be extra food to support the ‘first for food’ part of our strategy.
Are there any other changes planned? We’re halfway through a macro space review of our packaged and speciality goods. Essentially, we’re simplifying the customer’s shop. We call it ‘Mission Complete’. Rather than being spread across multiple aisles, or having duplicity in products in different aisles, people will be able to get everything they need to buy from one section. For example, packet rice is now next to Indian sauces, and chopped tomatoes are next to pesto.
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