In a break from our arranged topic, the stunning summer weather throughout July has prompted us to ask some of Scotland’s convenience retailers just how much difference the sunshine has made to sales.
Gordon Mair
Costcutter
It’s been through the roof. Aviemore has been one of the hottest parts of the country and we’ve certainly benefitted. Compared with last year we’re up around 30-40% across the whole shop. That’s partly down to being open an extra year and more people knowing we’re here, but the weather has played a big part – especially with the amount of soft drinks and beer/wine we’ve been selling. The deli has done well too, we’ve got two people on it permanently now and sales there have been great.
Omar Nasir
Spar
We’ve been selling a huge amount of water, which the hotter it got began to shift even more than carbonates did. The cider has been going really well too – lots of the premium ciders that you pour over ice, and as a result we’re selling more ice as well. I’m delighted we’ve got the off-trade licence now. It’s not all been drinks though, there’s been some great promotions on burgers and things like that for the barbecue shoppers. We’ve been pushing that and fresh sales are up as a result.
Javid Ghafur
Londis
Footfall was up 15% over those two weeks in July. And sales were up 13-14%, which is just great. I felt like we bringing back customers who had gone elsewhere. It was very much garden party time! Soft drinks were up 50% on the previous two weeks, cider was up 40%, beer up 20%. We sold plenty of ice too, and credit to Londis for managing to fulfil orders. It’s quietened down now and I suspect people are skint, but hopefully after pay day we’ll have managed to retain some of those lost customers.
Stephen Carr
Nisa
It was a brilliant spell. Couldn’t have been better. The second week in July was our biggest week ever, beating the week before! And it’s normally a quiet time of the year with a lot of Falkirk on holiday. Basket spend was huge too, people were buying beer, burgers, soft drinks, snacks; some were spending over £40, and that was happening right through the hot spell. We couldn’t keep things on the shelf, from salads, to burgers, sausages, beer, crisps. Loads of ice and ice cream as well.