The village of Fallin, near Stirling has been unveiled as the location of the first-ever One Stop store in Scotland, as the neighbourhood retailer makes its debut north of the border.
One Stop revealed its intention to launch in the Scottish market in late 2014 and will grow from the central belt outwards, opening both company-owned and franchise stores. With its first store now open, One Stop’s value, range and service is expected to expand across many new communities over the coming months. One Stop’s franchise division in particular will drive this growth, with well over 200 independent retailers already expressing an interest in the scheme.
The new One Stop in Fallin is a company-owned store which will employ ten staff in total; Store Manager Kat Ward, three Shift Managers and six Customer Service Assistants. The large village is a former mining community, with a growing population. The new store features PayPoint, Lottery, cashback, external ATM services and a photo booth, in addition to the usual selection of chilled, frozen and ambient ranges, off-licence, One Stop’s meal deals and a raft of regularly changing offers. The site was previously the Gray’s public house, but has been unoccupied for around 18 months. The new store is open seven days a week, from 6am until 10pm.
Tony Reed, CEO of One Stop, stated: “Our teams are really excited to bring One Stop’s friendly customer service, product range and great prices to customers in Scotland. This is a momentous day for One Stop and will allow us to continue our expansion through both company-owned and franchise stores. It’s great to offer Scottish consumers something different. And of course this also applies to independent retailers, who now have an additional option to consider for their future via our growing franchise scheme.”
One Stop’s second company store will also open its doors this week, in Glenrothes, Fife. Employing a further ten people, the two company stores between them have created 11 jobs for those previously unemployed. And in a move which sees the birth of its franchise model within Scotland, two independent retailers have just begun trading with One Stop, having had EPoS systems installed. The locations will be revealed in due course, with both stores currently undergoing the usual transition, in advance of their full refit.
