Ian Mitchell’s major investment in a full refit of his already successful Premier store in Drongan has paid off handsomely and provides a poignant lesson for other retailers considering refitting their stores.
By Antony Begley
All good local retailers in Scotland know the vital importance of investing in your business to keep it in line with modern consumer tastes but the decision to actually commit hundreds of thousands of pounds to refitting your store is always a nerve-wracking one – especially if the store is already flying, and has been for decades.
That’s precisely the challenge that faced long-standing Premier retailer Ian Mitchell when he first started seriously thinking about a major refit for his store in Drongan in Ayrshire. The store had been trading for the best part of 30 years and, not to put too fine a point on it, was a wee goldmine.
Over those three decades Ian and his team had built up in a fantastic relationship with the local community in the largely residential area around the store. That meant the store was the hub of the local community and was permanently busy and permanently profitable.
The problem was that Premier Drongan was, by modern retailing standards, “a bit tired” in Ian’s words. Without wishing to be too critical, that description is probably a little generous. The store was a bit of an Aladdin’s cave with a quirky layout, jammed to the gunwales with stock and not particularly easy to shop, even when you knew where to find everything you were looking for, as the majority of Ian’s shoppers did.
It was in dire need of a refit and, to Ian and his team’s credit, they decided to commit to one. It might have taken him a while to make the decision, but when he did, he committed 100% to the project. This was not going to be a tweak around the edges. This was to be a full-scale, no-holds-barred refit of epic proportions.
All told, it cost Ian more than £450,000 but the results are there for all to see. Most impressive, of course, is not the simple fact of throwing money at what was more or less a knock down and rebuild but the quality of thought and planning that went into creating a fantastic, ultra-modern refitted store that will easily see Ian through the next decade and beyond.
The refit saw the floor space more than double from 1,200sq ft to 2,500sq ft with the new purpose-built shell creating an almost perfect rectangle of glorious, bright, spacious shopping environment.
The front of the store was opened up and glazed to both make the store more inviting from outside and ensure an abundance of natural light inside. All aisles were widened to create more space for shoppers and the entrance to the store was moved to improve access and make it far easier for deliveries to be brought inside, massively improving store operations.
Funky lighting, new closed-door chillers, some smart new shelving and some nifty décor touches make the store look thoroughly modern and a pleasure to shop.
The refit also permitted a full rework of the range and merchandising, with a beer cave added as well as an increase in range across every category, including more than 500 new fresh and chilled lines and over 200 new frozen lines.
A free-to-use ATM and a vape station were also added, as was a new Refresh Zone featuring Costa Coffee, Fanta and Coke Frozen, Snow Shock and Jolly Rancher slush.
The focus on high margin, self-serve products is paying off handsomely.
If you ever saw Premier Drongan in days gone by, you will undoubtedly agree that the store is basically unrecognisable – and unmissable – thanks to Ian’s crowning glory, the big clock he fitted at the very top of the building, visible from miles away.
Best of all, and despite Ian’s reservations, the refit has indeed made a huge impact on the bottom line with sales up over £12,000 a week. Which just goes to prove that the old adage about investing in your business is true.
Ian could easily have saved himself £450,000 and just carried on taking the profits but his bold and courageous decision has left him with a busier, more profitable store that is future-proofed for many years to come. That’s a valuable lesson for any other retailers out there wondering if a refit is really worth it.
