Retailers and suppliers spent a day learning and sharing best practice in an engagement day held at a high performing Nisa store in East Sussex.
Jayesh Patel’s store in Upper Beeding near Brighton was the venue for the event which was attended by a group of Nisa members along with representatives from Heineken, Red Bull and Country Choice.
The store underwent an overhaul in Autumn 2016 and was fitted out with Nisa’s Store of the Future Evolution format, leading to an uplift in sales of almost 10 per cent.
The 3,000 sq ft store has a strong fresh offer with fruit and vegetables housed in wooden crates as well as a good food to go offer.
Red Bull and Heineken both set up their respective areas in the shop to demonstrate the best use of planograms, extra chillers and shippers they can supply to Nisa members.
Seven Nisa members, representing 12 stores were at the event including Damian Whyte from Hazelbank Country Stores in Ewhurst, Surrey who said, “It is always great to talk to other retailers and to see what is happening in the industry. It was really useful looking around the Upper Beeding store as we’re currently building a new store and so seeing all the techno functions in situ was great.”
Whyte also welcomed the Red Bull input and said their advice at his store has been invaluable. He added, “Red Bull came into our store and looked at our chillers. They re-merchandised the fridge and as a result our sales rocketed. They just did things we hadn’t thought of and it is paying dividends.”
Host for the day Jayesh Patel said, “Days such as these are very good for everyone involved – the retailers and the suppliers. We always go away with lots of ideas.”
Retail Development Manager Richard Bishop, who arranged the day, said, “Jayesh Patel’s store was the perfect venue for this engagement day because it is such a good standard already and achieves great sales. We wanted to get members and suppliers together to see what they can achieve with closer working and let members see what good really looks like.”