The Hunnyhill Stores Group has opened its 14th SPAR store on the Isle of Wight, creating 10 new full and part-time jobs, following a major co-investme...More...
Two pupils from a local primary school has the honour of cutting the ribbon to officially open a new SPAR store in their village.
The new store in ...More...
A fuel competition held at a Bideford forecourt SPAR store by Premier Foods, in conjunction with Batchelors, has proved popular with customers.
Ten...More...
Staff and customers at the SPAR store in Forest Hill, Yeovil have raised £175 for a “Gigathon” being held next month to raise funds for the Bristol Ch...More...
When the Lomax family decided to revamp their petrol forecourt store and change the name over the door, they found there was only one place to go.
...More...
"The Payroll department not only deal with the on-going payroll processing of the Appleby Westward staff," (says Clare Parkin, Appleby Westward's Payroll Co-ordinator) they also work with a large number of our retailers who outsource their payroll to Appleby Westward'.
A former pub in Gosport, near Portsmouth, has been completely refurbished and reopened as a modern SPAR convenience store.
Jeremy Van Laun, who also owns a SPAR store in Fratton, Portsmouth, acquired the former Kings Head in Brockhurst Road after the pub ceased trading and set about converting it, retaining the frontage of the historic building in the process.
Working with SPAR’s regional distribution company Appleby Westward, Jeremy converted the pub into 1,500 sq. ft. of retail space offering local customers a wide range of convenience grocery products, including frozen food, chilled and fresh products, beers, wines and spirits, a bakery, a coffee bar at the front of the store, and a hot food-to-go facility.
Lesley Van Laun, Jeremy’s mother, moved the former Van Laun Foodmarket in Fratton to SPAR three years ago, and she said the family hasn’t looked back since making the move.
Lesley said:
“It was the best thing we ever did. We needed the SPAR name over our door, because we knew customers would see it as a name you could rely on. And it is the customers who pay the wages, so we make sure we give them what they want. The customers in our new Gosport store love what we have done. One or two have said ‘I used to stand and have my pint here’ and now they are buying groceries instead!”
The new Gosport store is being run by her daughter-in-law Marianne’s brother, Matthew Kernachan. The family plans to invest strongly in their food-to-go offer to capitalise on potential business from a nearby industrial estate and passing trade.
“We have a big school nearby and lots of residential estates, and the potential for the new shop is enormous,”
said Lesley.
“We are also putting a lot of effort behind Real Deals promotions, as we have found in our other stores that these really work for us. You have to choose promotion products that are right for your shop and the area. We spend a lot of time on getting our promotions right, and are constantly looking at range and merchandising.”
Article updated January 2011
