Bellshill retailer Baiju Jose’s forecourt reopened last month after a full refit and refresh to convert the MFG-owned forecourt into a Londis – and it’s been a great few weeks with immediate sales hikes.
by Antony Begley
When you own 900 or so sites and change retail partner, the task of rebranding the entire group is no mean feat – as Motor Fuel Group (MFG) has been finding over the last couple of years since it acquired MRH in 2018 and started work on shifting every store into Londis, but the pace at which they are executing the task is impressive by any standard. With ex-Booker stalwart Steve Fox now firmly in position, it’s hardly a surprise that high standards are both demanded and delivered by the MFG team.
The latest store to receive a full conversion and refit is the MFG forecourt in Bellshill. MFG operates a ‘commission’ model which basically means that MFG owns the sites but, rather than being run by MFG staff, the stores are run by self-employed retailers. It’s a similar model to that Spar wholesaler and retailer AF Blakemore has just begun experimenting with down south and we may see more of it in future.
The Bellshill store is managed by Baiju Jose and reopened last month after a major refit, rebranding and expansion of the shopfloor. “It’s been a very busy few weeks, as you can imagine, but it’s been an instant success,” says Baiju.
“We’ve seen immediate sales increases of 15% on the week before, which is great as the store had already been performing to a high level during the pandemic.
The store used to be an MRH site under the Hurst’s brand so the conversion to Londis was the perfect opportunity for MFG and Baiju to make major improvements across the board.
He explains: “The refit took four weeks in total and for a week of that we had to close the site altogether to allow for re-pumping and so on, which we couldn’t do with customers around. On the forecourt, we re-pumped every island and we also added Super Unleaded for the first time which meant bringing in a brand new storage tank, but it lets us broaden our offer to shoppers. We get a lot of HGV custom too, being so close to the M8 and various business parks, so we also decided to modernise the HGV pumps which lets HGVs fill up twice as quickly as before. Plus, we’ve added an Adblue option on every pump. We’ve also replaced all the signage and furniture and the car wash, so our overall forecourt offer is much stronger.”
The store itself also saw a major rework to allow Baiju to grow his retail range significantly. “We increased the sales space by taking some space from what was the back store,” he explains. “It was bigger than we needed anyway, but that allowed us to add about a quarter more space to the shopfloor. We now sit somewhere around the 2,000sq ft mark for retail space. That allowed us to bring in new products and services, and also let us grow some categories that are doing well and needed more space.”
With a convenience location just off the M8 and close to many major industrial parks, HGV drivers are a key target for the store, as are the school kids from the nearby high school but the the store also sees large footfall from the residential area that surrounds the store.
“For the HGV audience, the new faster pumps are a big draw, but we wanted to get the lorry drivers to spend more in the shop too,” says Baiju. “We already had a Subway, which we’ve retained, but we’ve increased our food-to-go offer with a new chiller for chilled food-to-go alongside a new set of meal deals. We’ve also added a F’Real machine and Tango Ice Blast to the Costa machine we already had. We’ve essentially created a dedicated food-to-go area in the store for the first time and that’s proven really popular. Plus we’ve doubled the range of snacks, bars and protein lines we have and we’ve got a much wider range of electrical accessories from Fifo. We’ve created a new area for accessories and equipment that HGV drivers are looking for – everything from plug-in kettles to air freshener and bug cleaner.
“We want the drivers to know we’ve thought about what they need and that they’ll get a fast, efficient, enjoyable experience when they visit us.”
While the pandemic has badly affected footfall from the local school, the store has still been very busy in recent months, particularly early in the morning and at lunchtime. “So we re-worked our offer to make the store even more attractive to our key demographics,” he says. “The Subway is a massive draw but the F’Real and Tango Ice Blast are already proving big hits. A new US candy gondola end has also been popular and we have a comprehensive range of crisps, snacks, confectionery and soft drinks too.”
The local residents have always used the store regularly and Baiju benefits from the customers visiting the McDonald’s next door and the Premier Inn across the road. He comments: “They love the new look store and our improved range, but we’ve also upweighted our offer for the local market. We’ve brought in a new range of meal solutions, things like ready meals that offer a quick, tasty and convenient solution for lunches or evening meals and we have a solid core grocery range.”
So is he pleased with the move to Londis and his shiny new forecourt and store? “Absolutely,” he says? “We were obviously hoping for an uplift in sales after the changes but we probably didn’t expect increases as big as 15% on top of what has already been a fairly strong six months.
Coronavirus has turned the world upside down for us, as it has for all retailers, but MFG has been working very hard to support us and, as a group, it’s proving very resilient. Fuel sales were down obviously, but we’re beginning to get back to something approaching normal. Currently, MFG sites are only down about 15% year-on-year in terms of fuel sales, which is remarkable. But you never know what’s coming next.
The recent 10pm closing time in hospitality has probably helped, as we’re a 24 hour shop, so we’re seeing decent footfall after the pubs and restaurants close, but you can never tell what’s coming next.
We just need to be as prepared as we can and as flexible as we can so that we are in a position to cope with all this flux.”
And the progress hasn’t ended just because the refit has been completed. “We’re just about to add a home deliveries service with Uber Eats and we expect to see some more growth through that,” concludes Baiju. “We’re just working hard at giving our shoppers what they want and helping them out however we can in these very unusual times.”
