Premier unveils next generation 4,000th store

The UK biggest symbol group has opened its 4,000th store in Poole in Dorset, offering the latest insight into the direction Premier is taking.

By Gaelle Walker

Premier, the UK’s largest symbol group, has celebrated reaching its milestone 4,000th store with the unveiling of a ground-breaking new store packed to the rafters with technology and sustainability firsts.

Owned by long-standing Premier retailer Karumanithy “Arun” Ehamparam and his wife Tharsini, the store in Poole underwent a £170,000 refit in September 2022, transforming it into one of the most innovative Premiers to date. So SLR decided to take a trip to Dorset to gain an insight into how Premier is shaping up for the future of local retailing.

The store, which joined the Premier family 12 years ago, is sited within the residential heartland of Bournemouth’s Talbot Village and adjacent to Bournemouth University’s Talbot Campus, lending it a unique shopper demographic.

Arun explains: “The store’s location means that we have a very large youth demographic making it the perfect place to trial a number of new technology concepts.”

Heading up the store’s raft of technological innovations is a self-scan checkout – the first of its kind in a Premier. Available now to other Premier retailers via the Retail Data Partnership, the hybrid till can be operated as a self-scan till or be turned around to function as an operated till if needs be.

“The till uses Apple Pay and the reaction from students has already been incredible,” Arun says. “In our second week of trading, more than 20% of all transactions went through the self-scan till and we expect that number to continue climbing over the coming weeks.”

In another first for Premier, the store also features Electronic Shelf Edge Labels (ESELs) throughout, a development which Arun estimates will save him around 14 hours of staff time a week.

“We’re still tweaking the labels to find out which fonts and colours have the most impact but the technology itself is fantastic, the time we will save by not having to manually update pricing information is huge,” he adds.

Once the trial is completed and adjustments have been made, Premier aims to make the technology available to all other Premier retailers who want it.

The technological innovations don’t end there. In yet another ground-breaking move, the store has also “gone paperless” by scrapping paper promotional leaflets in favour of QR codes which can be scanned by shoppers as they enter the store and as they navigate around its bold, bright interior.

The change, Arun says, also sits well with another key concern for his young demographic: sustainability.

“Sustainability is becoming an increasingly important concern for our shoppers and as a result this store also features a number of new initiatives designed to help it be more sustainable,” he adds.

According to Premier estimates, the act of removing paper leaflets alone, will save the equivalent of one tree a year. Also adding to the sustainability piece is a brand-new Refill zone which enables shoppers to conveniently dispense desired quantities of a range of dried goods into paper bags – saving on food and packaging waste in the process.

The refill concept is available now to all Premier retailers through Central Billing Supplier Hunts, which offers a range of up to 60 different refill products. In the store’s second week of trading alone, Refill sales topped £200 a week.

In a further move designed to help further the war on single-use plastic, Premier Talbot Convenience Store is also the first Premier to go completely plastic bag free, with no more single-use plastic bags offered to shoppers at the checkout. Shoppers who require a bag can of course purchase paper alternatives.

Sustainability was also front of mind for Arun and the Premier team when developing the store’s brand-new, much larger fresh, chilled and frozen offer. New chiller and freezer cabinets have been fitted throughout the 1,900sq ft store, with all cabinets now 35% more energy efficient than the store’s previous models.

The energy efficiency win is certainly an important one when you consider that the store’s fresh and chilled range has more than trebled in size since the refit, from four metres prior to 14 metres currently. The vast new chilled range includes a large number of ready meals, fresh meat products, deli items and fruit and vegetables, with 85% of the range featuring a long shelf life of 20 days or more.

Arun receives three deliveries a week from Premier, but the entire range is also available from the cash and carry enabling him to top up if needs be. While the range’s long-life chill credentials are already helping to ensure that wastage is kept to a minimum, the store has also signed up to the Too Good To Go Magic Bags scheme, meaning that any food nearing the end of its shelf life makes it into mouths rather than bins.

“Our new fresh and chilled offer is being so well received by shoppers,” Arun says. “They are so thrilled by the depth of the range and also the brilliant promotions that they can take advantage of on own brands like Jack’s. The feedback on Jack’s generally has been phenomenal,” he adds.

In its third week of trading alone, the store’s fresh and chilled sales hit £4,000 – up from £400 a week prior to the refit.

The store also features a brand-new, and utterly show-stopping 300sq ft Beer Cave, created in what was previously Arun’s office at the rear of the store. Inspired by the Beer Cave at the flagship Singh’s Premier on Teynham Road in Sheffield, the Beer Cave at Premier Talbot Convenience Stores also features a new range of Ready To Serve (RTS) canned drinks – popular with its student demographic.

Accessed via smart electronic doors and featuring “cool” blue sky lighting panels, the cave is already making waves with local shoppers, regularly appearing in TikTok and Instagram posts. Hardly surprising then, that alcohol sales have already jumped by 50% since the refit.

“Shoppers love the Beer Cave, it’s been one of the biggest hits so far,” says Arun. “It’s also great for highlighting our value message as promotional packs have such strong standout in there,” he says.

Also proving to be a smash hit with local shoppers is the store’s new Refresh@Premier zone, prominently located to the right of its bright and spacious entrance area. Featuring a Costa Express Machine, Tango Ice Blast, Coca Cola Freeze, Jolly Rancher slush, Hershey’s and Reese’s Freeze, the new Refresh Zone is fast becoming one of its most profitable new categories, closely followed by vaping.

In a totally new offer for the store, Arun’s shop-floor Vaping@Premier zone took just over £2,500 a week in its second week of trading with disposable vape bars leading the way. “We never offered vape before, so the category’s success has been a huge eye opener. Shoppers spend large amounts of time browsing the full range and checking out all the deals that we do,” Arun says. “To go from zero to £2,500 is incredible, especially when you consider the margins.”

Given the “phenomenal” reception that local shoppers are giving the store just three weeks in, Arun and the Premier team currently expect to achieve payback for the entire refit in just under five months’ time.

Sales in the third week of trading hit £35,000 – up from £17,500 a week prior to the refit. Even more impressive is the fact that those glittering sales figures have been achieved prior to the return of the university’s full student body for the start of the new academic term. Margin has also increased from 22% to 28% in three weeks.

Arun’s bottom line also looks set to receive a further boost in the coming months when new solar panels, estimated to shave around £500 a month off his energy bills, are fitted on the roof.

“I’m just beyond proud of what we’ve achieved here,” Arun says “I’m blown away by the success we are already seeing so early on and can’t wait to see where the next few weeks take us. It’s been a huge amount of hard work and so many new elements to take on board, but Premier have supported me every step of the way and I’m so grateful to the entire team. What a fantastic way to celebrate the milestone achievement of 4,000 stores.”