It was stocking local food and £1 lines before they were a twinkle in the supermarkets’ eyes – and it’s increased its store estate by 50% in the past two months. Beth Phillips reports
Roy and Paul Delves are standing over a pig sty, watching a piglet wallow in yoghurt. It's not the first place you'd expect to find the chairman and MD of a £53m-turnover retail chain, but the father and son look quite at home as they tour the country park at their HQ in Churchstoke on the Welsh border.
The 50-acre site also houses the flagship Harry Tuffins supermarket, a petrol station and a water bottling plant that produces own-label water for a string of convenience operators.
The range of activities reflects the diversity of the business. The chain has been stocking local foods since it opened in the 1970s. It has a thriving own-label offer, from dried fruit to paint. It has been running a Pound Zone scheme for more than 20 years. Fresh food waste from the stores is sent back to the country park to be fed to the animals and then recycled again when the pigs are made into sausages and sold in Harry Tuffins stores.
"All these so-called 'new' ideas come along from the supermarkets, but we've been offering them for years because that's what customers want," says Paul Delves.
Delves has purchased three stores in the past two months, taking the total estate to nine. Two of the stores, in Lydney and Coleford in Gloucestershire, were former Somerfield stores bought from The Co-operative Group and are now trading under the Tuffins @ Nisa Extra fascia. They are Tuffins' first stores not to have a fuel offer and its first move into Gloucestershire.
"The stores are trading pretty level compared with when we bought them," says Delves. "They were 50% up on Somerfield sales in the first two weeks of trading, but have now settled. Our plan is to try and add fuel stations to the sites. Because we're in a rural area, people need their cars to get around, but there aren't many petrol stations. So fuel really works for us, especially when we combine it with our 'spend £60 in store and get 10p off a litre of fuel' offer."
Tuffins is one of several retailers this year to use the Nisa Extra fascia, the symbol offer of Nisa-Today's, which has benefited from Haldanes and Mills Group buying small supermarkets from The Co-op Group. "Associating ourselves with Nisa-Today's really pays off," Delves says. "We've got strong branding in the area, but Nisa has buying power and offers national advertising, including TV later this year."
Delves also has big plans for the third store, a petrol station in Malpas, Cheshire, which he says was "a deal too good to refuse". He plans to extend it into a 2,800 sq ft c-store and forecourt. Current Tuffins stores in Craven Arms and Knighton will be refurbished this year, while the store in Cleobury Mortimer will be knocked down and completely rebuilt.
Delves doesn't rule out more acquisitions. "We're being contacted all the time about new opportunities," he says. "Moving into Lydney and Coleford means we've got a big gap between there and our other stores. We're interested in that gap and have been talking to the local council. But we've got enough on our plate this year."
Tuffins has grown its estate by 50% this year already, but how much bigger is it set to get? Watch this space.
Roy and Paul Delves are standing over a pig sty, watching a piglet wallow in yoghurt. It's not the first place you'd expect to find the chairman and MD of a £53m-turnover retail chain, but the father and son look quite at home as they tour the country park at their HQ in Churchstoke on the Welsh border.
The 50-acre site also houses the flagship Harry Tuffins supermarket, a petrol station and a water bottling plant that produces own-label water for a string of convenience operators.
The range of activities reflects the diversity of the business. The chain has been stocking local foods since it opened in the 1970s. It has a thriving own-label offer, from dried fruit to paint. It has been running a Pound Zone scheme for more than 20 years. Fresh food waste from the stores is sent back to the country park to be fed to the animals and then recycled again when the pigs are made into sausages and sold in Harry Tuffins stores.
"All these so-called 'new' ideas come along from the supermarkets, but we've been offering them for years because that's what customers want," says Paul Delves.
Delves has purchased three stores in the past two months, taking the total estate to nine. Two of the stores, in Lydney and Coleford in Gloucestershire, were former Somerfield stores bought from The Co-operative Group and are now trading under the Tuffins @ Nisa Extra fascia. They are Tuffins' first stores not to have a fuel offer and its first move into Gloucestershire.
"The stores are trading pretty level compared with when we bought them," says Delves. "They were 50% up on Somerfield sales in the first two weeks of trading, but have now settled. Our plan is to try and add fuel stations to the sites. Because we're in a rural area, people need their cars to get around, but there aren't many petrol stations. So fuel really works for us, especially when we combine it with our 'spend £60 in store and get 10p off a litre of fuel' offer."
Tuffins is one of several retailers this year to use the Nisa Extra fascia, the symbol offer of Nisa-Today's, which has benefited from Haldanes and Mills Group buying small supermarkets from The Co-op Group. "Associating ourselves with Nisa-Today's really pays off," Delves says. "We've got strong branding in the area, but Nisa has buying power and offers national advertising, including TV later this year."
Delves also has big plans for the third store, a petrol station in Malpas, Cheshire, which he says was "a deal too good to refuse". He plans to extend it into a 2,800 sq ft c-store and forecourt. Current Tuffins stores in Craven Arms and Knighton will be refurbished this year, while the store in Cleobury Mortimer will be knocked down and completely rebuilt.
Delves doesn't rule out more acquisitions. "We're being contacted all the time about new opportunities," he says. "Moving into Lydney and Coleford means we've got a big gap between there and our other stores. We're interested in that gap and have been talking to the local council. But we've got enough on our plate this year."
Tuffins has grown its estate by 50% this year already, but how much bigger is it set to get? Watch this space.
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