Work has begun on transforming the recently acquired Sher Bros Cash & Carry in Glasgow into what Bestway has called a “true one-stop wholesale depot for customers in Glasgow and the surrounding areas”.
Its business as usual as the building work continues to gather pace with a completion date set for July and sales are in line with expectations. New external signs, which are dual branded Bestway & Batleys Wholesale, will be installed this week and you will be able to see the depot from the M74 motorway.
Upon completion, the trading space will have more than doubled to a massive 100,000 sq ft – enough for 7,000 pallet spaces – and several new departments will be added to provide customers with a complete retail and catering offering.
A high percentage of the customer base live within two miles from the depot and it’s an ideal location for a busy C&C with high footfall. As a city centre depot, the business will be an excellent impulse retail depot so soft drinks, crisp and snacks, confectionery, chilled, licensed and core grocery will all be strong performers. In addition there is an opportunity to grow the existing catering/Ethnic foods business.
After only a few weeks trading, sales are in line with initial expectations. The building work has inhibited sales to a degree but over the past three weeks there has been significant growth in Best-in Own label, alcohol and chilled. The company believes that when the depot is fully operation it will be a top performing player in the Bestway Batleys estate.
A new senior management team has been installed; Pat Collins ex Batleys Cambuslang, United Springburn and Trademarket is the new General Manager and will be supported by, Laurence Ward – ex Bestpets Batleys Cambuslang – as the new Deputy Manager. The takeover and investment by Bestway Batleys has been fantastically received by previous Sher Bros staff.
There will also new licensed, chilled and frozen, and world foods departments.
David Livingstone, operations manager for Scotland is extremely pleased with how the new depot has been received. “All we have is half a shed at the moment. Once everything is complete we’ll have a bigger shed. What’s important is that we engage local retail and catering businesses to come along and see the transformation for themselves. The response from customers has been nothing short of phenomenal even though we are currently working with limited space and are not fully operational. Sales are up over the last few weeks, customers really love the inclusion of the new chilled and alcohol sections and have really got behind Best-in own label.”
