Well, the on-the-road judging for this year’s SLR Awards is now complete – and what an epic six weeks it’s been. In those six weeks I’ve covered something like 4,000 miles and visited literally every store on the shortlist. It’s a gruelling jaunt, it really is, but it’s certainly the most interesting and inspiring six weeks of my year.
The biggest learning? I can sum it up in two ways: investment and a focus on cash profit. Every year since Covid, it’s been clear to me that investment has been rocketing, but after the torrid year we’ve all had, I was fully prepared to see a lull in huge investment across the sector during this year’s judging. It’s been a horrible year for many, after all.
The reality, however, is that spending on stores is probably the highest I’ve ever seen it in nearly 25 years of doing the SLR Awards. Of course, I’m only seeing shortlisted stores, which should be among the best in the business – but the scale of investment is reaching mind‑boggling levels. It often reminds me of professional footballers’ wages. Every year we wonder how high they can actually go before commercial reality kicks in.
Can it really make financial sense to pay a player half a million quid a week? Similarly, can it really make sense to spend £5m on a refit of a convenience store? Unlikely as it seems on a commonsense level, the answer appears to be a resounding ‘yes’.
It’s difficult to get an accurate handle on the scale of investment across the shortlisted stores, and there are always some massive single investments that skew the numbers – but I’d be pretty confident in saying that the total spend across all shortlisted stores is comfortably north of £20m. I find that incredible and inspiring in equal measure.
Local retailing in Scotland has entered a new era. We’ve levelled up and, just like professional football, that massive investment in ‘the product’ is being rewarded at the till (or the turnstile). And it’s not just throwing money at things for the sake of it. It’s the quality of thought going into these investments, not just the number of pound notes, that is most striking.
It feels to me like we’re leaving the ‘weekly sales’ model behind and moving towards the ‘weekly cash profit’ model. It’s been a long time coming, but the nature of local retailing these days, with rapidly increasing direct costs and overheads, means that simply doing a big weekly turnover is no longer enough to guarantee a sustainable business. It’s a big weekly cash profit that makes the local retailing world go round. Sales for vanity, profit for sanity and all that.
How does that look in cold, hard reality? Firstly, it’s an increased focus on high‑margin categories – food to go, coffee and vaping, for example – but it’s also an increased focus on reducing overheads through better use of tech and more reliance on self‑serve, be that self‑serve tills or self‑serve units like coffee and premium slush machines.
There’s also a big shift towards differentiation. How do you make your store a destination store? Why would a customer pass another store to get to yours? One answer is by offering a range that customers can’t find anywhere else. Often that means local suppliers across key categories like butchery, bakery and fresh.
In the simplest terms, the finest stores I’ve seen in this year’s judging have long since moved on from a reliance on traditional convenience categories and products. Yes, they still stock crisps, confectionery and beer, but the priority in‑store is majoring on specific categories that turn the business into a true destination store: food to go, wine, imported products, high‑quality fresh and more. Being famous for something has never been more critical.
The most progressive stores I have seen in the last six weeks have a laser focus on profit, not sales. It’s a lesson for us all – and one the entire sector will need to embrace in the near future.
Antony Begley, Publishing Director, SLR
Tough year brings out the best
Well, the on-the-road judging for this year’s SLR Awards is now complete – and what an epic six weeks it’s been. In those six weeks I’ve covered something like 4,000 miles and visited literally every store on the shortlist. It’s a gruelling jaunt, it really is, but it’s certainly the most interesting and inspiring six weeks of my year.
The biggest learning? I can sum it up in two ways: investment and a focus on cash profit. Every year since Covid, it’s been clear to me that investment has been rocketing, but after the torrid year we’ve all had, I was fully prepared to see a lull in huge investment across the sector during this year’s judging. It’s been a horrible year for many, after all.
The reality, however, is that spending on stores is probably the highest I’ve ever seen it in nearly 25 years of doing the SLR Awards. Of course, I’m only seeing shortlisted stores, which should be among the best in the business – but the scale of investment is reaching mind‑boggling levels. It often reminds me of professional footballers’ wages. Every year we wonder how high they can actually go before commercial reality kicks in.
Can it really make financial sense to pay a player half a million quid a week? Similarly, can it really make sense to spend £5m on a refit of a convenience store? Unlikely as it seems on a commonsense level, the answer appears to be a resounding ‘yes’.
It’s difficult to get an accurate handle on the scale of investment across the shortlisted stores, and there are always some massive single investments that skew the numbers – but I’d be pretty confident in saying that the total spend across all shortlisted stores is comfortably north of £20m. I find that incredible and inspiring in equal measure.
Local retailing in Scotland has entered a new era. We’ve levelled up and, just like professional football, that massive investment in ‘the product’ is being rewarded at the till (or the turnstile). And it’s not just throwing money at things for the sake of it. It’s the quality of thought going into these investments, not just the number of pound notes, that is most striking.
It feels to me like we’re leaving the ‘weekly sales’ model behind and moving towards the ‘weekly cash profit’ model. It’s been a long time coming, but the nature of local retailing these days, with rapidly increasing direct costs and overheads, means that simply doing a big weekly turnover is no longer enough to guarantee a sustainable business. It’s a big weekly cash profit that makes the local retailing world go round. Sales for vanity, profit for sanity and all that.
How does that look in cold, hard reality? Firstly, it’s an increased focus on high‑margin categories – food to go, coffee and vaping, for example – but it’s also an increased focus on reducing overheads through better use of tech and more reliance on self‑serve, be that self‑serve tills or self‑serve units like coffee and premium slush machines.
There’s also a big shift towards differentiation. How do you make your store a destination store? Why would a customer pass another store to get to yours? One answer is by offering a range that customers can’t find anywhere else. Often that means local suppliers across key categories like butchery, bakery and fresh.
In the simplest terms, the finest stores I’ve seen in this year’s judging have long since moved on from a reliance on traditional convenience categories and products. Yes, they still stock crisps, confectionery and beer, but the priority in‑store is majoring on specific categories that turn the business into a true destination store: food to go, wine, imported products, high‑quality fresh and more. Being famous for something has never been more critical.
The most progressive stores I have seen in the last six weeks have a laser focus on profit, not sales. It’s a lesson for us all – and one the entire sector will need to embrace in the near future.
Antony Begley, Publishing Director, SLR
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