SLR Award-winning Falkirk retailer Anand Cheema, son of SGF boss Pete Cheema, has joined Costcutter in a major coup for the Bestway-owned symbol group.
by Antony Begley
There were rumblings aplenty at the end of last year, but Falkirk retailer Anand Cheema has finally confirmed he has joined Costcutter. He actually joined the Bestway-owned symbol group in December, but the move was only made public last month – and represents a significant coup for the rejuvenated Costcutter and reflects the depths of its ambitions in Scotland.
The 2,900sq ft store had previously been with Spar Scotland since Anand first took it on in late 2020 at the age of just 23. Oddly enough, the store was once owned by his father Pete Cheema, now CEO of the Scottish Grocers’ Federation.
Despite the intense pressure of following of his father’s footsteps with the eyes of the industry on him, Anand managed to remain highly focused and committed, and consequently has enjoyed success since day one, collecting a mantelpiece full of industry awards and seeing sales rocket under lockdown.
Just like his father, however, Anand is brimming with ambition, and it is this ambition that led him to Costcutter.
“I was particularly impressed by the ambition of the Bestway Group and the successful direction the business is clearly heading in,” he says in the official press release.
Chilling out
When SLR spoke to him, his reasons were a bit more tangible and real-world: “Yes, we had great success in the store since we opened. We had set ourselves three- to five-year weekly turnover targets and we achieved them in the first year but I’m always going to be hungry to keep growing and improving. That’s why we chose Costcutter. It’s clear that Bestway has big goals and that it’s moving in the right direction which is absolutely in line with what I’m trying to achieve in my career.
“But one of the big attractions of Costcutter for me was the chilled range. Our goal when we made the move was twofold: firstly, to improve the parts of the business that we felt weren’t going as well as we wanted them to; and secondly, to make even more of the categories that we are already seeing big success in.”
Anand says the depth and quality of the Costcutter fresh and chilled range was a key factor in helping him improve his chilled offer. He explains: “With access to the Co-op and Heritage ranges, Costcutter offers us the breadth of range we feel we need. The quality of the Heritage fresh range is second to none, in my opinion.
“Fresh and chilled is a big part of the store but we felt that we could make a lot more of it as part of a wider aim to make the store a true destination store for the local community. We want our customers to come to the store more often and spend more when they are here. A great fresh and chilled offer will do that and while our current average basket spend is around £8.50, we feel there’s some headroom there for more growth.”
To facilitate that growth, the store is being fully refitted in March – subject to Falkirk Council playing ball. The exterior Costcutter signage and vinyls are already in place but the interior of the store will remain largely as is until the refit, allowing Anand to sell through the old range and get ready to hit the ground running once the refit is complete.
“At the moment we’re just replacing like-for-like as we work our way through the existing stock but the refit will see some major changes,” he says.
Among those major changes will be a doubling of space dedicated to fresh and chilled. “We’re doubling the space,” says Anand, “but we’re not doubling the range. We’re going to be double-facing a lot of key fresh lines and ready meals to create more impact and really add emphasis to the chilled section.”
Building blocks
While chilled is clearly a category that Anand sees as having under-performed, several areas of the store have been heading in the opposite direction. “We’re trebling the space we dedicate to wine,” he comments. “We only have a half metre of wine at the moment and sales are flying but we believe that a much bigger fixture will let us deliver huge extra growth.
“Similarly, we’re doubling the space given over to alcohol in general. It’s a massively strong category in this store and sales have been huge for a long time. Dry January doesn’t seem to have had an impact!”
Another highlight of the last year was keg sales and these remain a core part of the store’s offer now, as Anand says: “Kegs have been huge for us. They dipped a little in autumn but came back even bigger in the run-up to Christmas and they haven’t slowed down, so we’ll give them a little more space to breathe and hopefully that will deliver growth too.”
Another highlight of the planned refit is a new freestanding vaping island on the shopfloor. “We do about £1,500 a week in vaping products from half a metre behind the counter. The new island should help us grow that significantly.”
Grocery u-turn
A more eyebrow-raising aspect of the refit will see a new focus on grocery. It was a category in seemingly terminal decline before the pandemic but, after a study tour to Kent, Anand believes that by growing the grocery fixture and siting it across from the meal solutions fixture, he will grow sales in both categories.
“I know, I know,” he admits, “It’s a bit odd and it’s like stepping back five years in time but the trip to Kent taught us that grocery maybe hasn’t had its day. We want to become a true destination store in our community and for many people that means grocery. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.”
So far, with very little changed except the fascia and some minor range tweaks, the store’s numbers are up on last January. “I wouldn’t read too much into that,” advises Anand. “There’s so much going on that it could be down to any number of factors. But one thing I can say is that profitability is up since the move. I am excited about the refit and I can’t wait to get started.”
