Jay Javid’s Nisa Local Wee Mill store in Rutherglen demonstrates boundless creativity in converting a traditional pub into an award-winning modern convenience store.
By Antony Begley
The New Store of the Year category is always a tough one to win at the SLR Awards, attracting as it does some fantastic entries that demonstrate the very latest thinking in the local retailing space. So, it takes something special to come out top and there’s no doubt that Jay Javid’s Nisa Local Wee Mill store in Rutherglen is something very special indeed.
The store was Jay’s 11th at the time of opening and was a major undertaking for his growth-hungry PGNJ business, not least because the site used to house a pub – The Wee Mill – and required some major work to turn it into the modern store that Jay and his team envisaged.
Turning pubs into stores has been a major trend in recent years thanks to Covid decimating the pub sector, but this conversion was achieved with some particular style and flair, as the judges discovered.
The initial layout for the new store was drafted by the company directors before Jay and team engaged with Nisa to draw up some CAD files. As part of the process, several members of the management team visited Ireland to get an up-to-date handle on the approach and philosophy of retailers on the other side of the water.
With their ducks lined up, Vertex was called in and the final designs were drawn up.
“It was a tricky layout to work with,” explains Jay. “We were looking to find a layout that worked and flowed with the original features of the store. Ultimately, we realised that we had to accept the structure of the building, rather than fighting against it. When we did that, we were able to draft a layout that complemented the arches and the flow, while maintaining our focus on providing that superior shopping experience that was always the focal point of what we were implementing.”
The refit cost the best part of a chunky £300k but it looks to have been money well spent. Jay’s vision for the refit was to retain a nod to the site’s previous life as a pub – the big red Tennent’s ‘T’ that now graces the beer cave was the actual big red ‘T’ that used to hang outside the pub – but he always wanted to make this his most modern store yet.
That explains all the techy upgrades like digital SELs and large digital display screens but it also explains the classy finish both inside and out.
The exterior has been clad with the trademark understated grey, white and black while the inside is clean, spacious and well lit, making it just as welcoming as the pub presumably once was. Probably even more so.
All the latest convenience trends have been reflected inside too: a dedicated food- and drinks-to-go area, a beer cave and a big fresh and chilled section, all featuring the latest-spec kit.
The 32sq ft beer cave is another nod to the pub as it sits exactly where the pub’s off-trade section used to be. It now boasts a huge range of chilled beers, wines, ciders and RTDs, including a big array of multipacks.
The store sits in a heavily populated area and, despite having a Tesco just a hundred or so yards away, Jay was confident his enhanced convenience offer and long opening hours – 7am to 10pm – would help him bring convenience shoppers through the door.
Sitting near both a golf course and an industrial estate, it was critical that there was a good food-to-go offer so the store has a fresh cream cake counter and a TurboChef oven and serve-over for toasties and other hot savoury snacks.
There is also a Lavazza coffee machine and Tango Ice Blast, Fanta and Coca-Cola slushed drinks, and a display for the Nisa meal deal.
As with all of PGNJ’s stores, Rutherglen sources a fair amount of its stock locally, like hot savoury snacks and cakes from McGhee’s Bakery and Aulds the Bakers, and Equi’s ice cream tubs.
“We spend a lot of time with the Nisa development team and really listen to them for the basic layout of our shops and range. We share the same vision of what stores should look like, and the standards to expect.”
And while growing the portfolio is very much front of mind, Jay is very conscious of the need to keep investing in the existing stores. Nisa Rutherglen allowed Jay and his team to learn more about developing an individual store to the latest specs – and those learnings will be fed back into the other stores.
“The retail game has changed in the past few years, so that being successful is not so much about store numbers, but investing in what you have, with innovation, a very strong online presence, and offering home delivery which is crucial now for convenience businesses,” says Jay.
“Who’d have thought before Covid that so many shops would be delivering groceries? Now, customers have come to expect it. I’m looking at introducing food-to-go concessions, pharmacies and sub-Post Office counters to offer more things for shoppers under one roof.”
It was clearly a challenging project for Jay and his team, but the end result was something that landed extremely well with the judges: a thoroughly modern convenience store that tastefully recognises the important heritage of the building and the needs of its customers today.
