Store overhaul meets customer approval
A busy store in the middle of a bustling council estate has completed a re-vamp that has seen floor space increase by 40 per cent.
Barry Patel, who runs two Nisa Local stores on Luton’s Marsh Farm Estate, has just finished the work on his Axe Close store – renovating back office and storage space to create approximately 400 sq. ft. additional selling space.
The store, which Barry has run for 35 years, is now about 1,800 sq. ft. The experienced retailer said the facelift has modernised the shop and made better use of space. It now matches the high standard of Barry’s second store Nisa Local Marsh Farm which is also fitted out to Nisa’s Store of the Future Evolution specification.
As well as upgrading to the latest black and yellow fascia, the store has been squared off and banks of new chillers and additional upright and chest freezers installed.
A new food to go section has been introduced offering a wide selection of hot and chilled foods, something that is a new concept for the area.
Barry said: “We are in the middle of a big council estate, we are not a high street location, and so we were a little unsure how the Food to Go concept would work but the customers love it. They are picking up freshly made sandwiches for their lunch and coming in and getting their shopping then picking up something from the food counter to take home.”
And Barry’s customers, who mostly live on the housing estate and have shopped in the store all their lives, are thrilled with the new look.
“They have all been really quite amazed by the transformation. I hadn’t done anything to this store for 10 years and so it was a big job and we closed for about four weeks. When they walked back in after we re-opened, they were just amazed,” said Barry.
And with the additional space, there is plenty of room for the new Co-op lines to be incorporated into the store, something else which is exciting shoppers.
“We’ve got more chiller space now and so we’ve added the first selection of Co-op chilled products and the extra choice has been really welcomed by our customers.”