Ambitious Glasgow retailer Girish Jeeva has moved his Barmulloch store to Bestway under a new dual-branded Costcutter Bargain Booze brand with 24-hour opening.
Multi-award-winning and highly progressive Glasgow retailer Girish Jeeva has partnered with Bestway to transition his hugely successful Barmulloch store to a brand new dual-brand format: Costcutter Bargain Booze.
Girish has enjoyed an extremely profitable partnership with Booker’s Premier fascia since he first bought the store in 2021 and routinely achieves exceptional sales thanks in part to becoming the first local retailer in the UK to launch 24-hour delivery last year. “We’re currently trading at £75–£80k per week, which is a fantastic position to be in,” Girish exclusively told SLR.
“However, we firmly believe the store has the potential to break into six figures. With a stronger offering and the right fresh proposition, we’re confident we can push towards £100,000 per week.
“With that in mind, we’ve made the decision to partner with Bestway and transition to their new dual-brand format: Costcutter Bargain Booze.
“The key driver behind this move is access to Co-op own-brand products. Our main focus for 2026 is fresh. We’ve worked hard to strengthen every other category, and fresh is the final piece of the puzzle. So we’re moving from 12m of fresh and chilled to 18.5m. We believe that introducing a strong, quality-led offer like Co-op will allow us to hit our six-figure target before the end of the year.”
Girish and his team visited a dozen Scotmid, Co-op and Nisa stores as part of their research and Girish said, “the quality of the fresh and chilled is very impressive”, something that helped cement his decision.
A full £100k refit will begin on 2 March with the first phase of the migration seeing the new Costcutter fascia going up mid-to-late March, followed by a grand launch in April during the holiday period and the dual Costcutter Bargain Booze branding being implemented later in the year.
“We’ve had an incredible journey with Booker,” added Girish. “They’ve supported us from day one, and in return we’ve given everything to elevate the Premier brand and take it to the next level — something I truly believe we’ve achieved. I’m genuinely grateful for the relationship we’ve built, and Booker will always be family to us.
“This has been a very difficult decision, as you can imagine, but Booker has been incredibly respectful and supportive, and that partnership will continue as we will still be maintaining our relationship with Booker at our other store on London Road.
“On the other hand, our early relationship with Costcutter has been extremely positive. We’re excited to be one of the first dual-branded Costcutter stores in Scotland and to work with Bestway to help take the brand to a whole new level and truly put Costcutter back on the map.
“In addition to the rebrand, we’ll also be moving to 24-hour trading immediately after the refit — another big step forward in unlocking the store’s full potential. We already have staff in the store 24 hours because of the home delivery operation, so I’d been thinking about going 24-hours for a while. With the move to Bestway, this seems like the right time to go for it.
“There’s a 24-hour Asda nearby so, with an expanded fresh and chilled range, this will help us to tap into that audience and hopefully build some more sales.”
