Wowing shoppers in Wolverhampton

A West Midlands-based retailer is reaping the rewards of his newly developed store, with customers wowed by the shop that is unrecognisable from the store it was previously.

Harry Dhillon bought the former McColl’s store in Willenhall Road, Wolverhampton last autumn, seeing the potential with its prime location just off a busy road, close to the city centre and good parking outside for passing trade.

Closing the store down for a fortnight to carry out a full refit, Harry removed all interior fixtures and fittings to provide a blank canvas enabling him to start the refurbishment from scratch and the result is a new look store that is delighting shoppers.

Since launching the store in October sales have increased by almost 40 per cent in the six months to April and Harry believes, now he is embedded into the community and shoppers know what they can get from his store, sales will continue to grow.

“It’s a great looking store and my customers have all been really impressed with the shop as well as what we’re stocking. They love the promotions and are spending well,” said Harry.

The refit has included the replacement of all existing chilled refrigeration allowing for a new layout to be introduced, changing the flow of the store to improve the shopping experience.

At just over 2,500 sq ft the store now offers nearly 9m of chilled products and a further 10.5m of chilled BWS.

Fresh meat and fruit and vegetables are good sellers although it took a few weeks to establish the range.

“When we first opened there was a bit of waste with fresh stuff going out of date, but it didn’t take long for customers to realise what was available to them in the store and now we sell everything very well.

“The new offer is really working. Every day we are seeing new faces coming in and shopping with us. People who have not been in for a while are coming in and they are really impressed.”

And with housing as well as local businesses neighbouring the store along with passing traffic on the nearby main road, the footfall is strong and growing with average basket spend creeping up since opening day and now sitting at £10 to £12.

“Our shoppers know us now, they know what they can get from us, and so we are going to make the most of it and push on to improve our sales,” said Harry.