Refurbished Rothley reaps rewards for respected retailers

The overhaul of a busy village store in Leicestershire is seeing exciting early signs of growth with potential for much more to come.

Well-known and respected Nisa retailers, Paul Matthews and Jack Matthews recently launched their refurbished second site in Rothley, 18 months after unveiling their new look store a few miles away in Quorn.

The store, which has been operating for some 40 years, was lagging behind the family’s flagship shop and the highly successful refit at Quorn was one reason for following suit with the second site.

One month after launching, sales are up by more than 20% and basket spend has seen strong growth with a current average spend of nearly ￡11.

Jack said: “We spent a long time planning the refurb at Quorn and were absolutely delighted with the result and so were our customers. We saw so much success from the changes and realised we needed to put the same energy into the Rothley shop and copy it across and that’s what we have tried to do.”

The refit involved a full closure of the store for two weeks in which all existing fittings and fixtures were ripped out and the entire store was re-laid, windows were opened up, the counter relocated, shelving replaced and rotated to change the flow of the shop and new chillers, freezers, lighting, and flooring installed.

Retaining the greengrocer tradition of Bradley’s which remains at the very heart of the business, a superb fruit and vegetable selection welcomes shoppers as they enter the store before walking onto the 16 metres of chilled range.

The frozen range incorporates five metres of upright freezers complemented by two Cook chest freezers.

And at the rear of the store the ceiling has been raised to create a shop within a shop where all beers, ales and wines are located alongside snacking.

“We wanted to make a feature of the BWS and so we chose racking for the ambient wines with lighting behind that creates a great effect and installed LED lighting overhead. We’re really pleased with the look and feel, and shoppers come in and head directly to this area.”

The food to go offer has been massively improved now including branded coffee and ice cream but the key driver is the bespoke Bradley’s Kitchen range which includes salads and chilled sandwiches, cakes, and bakes as well as a ‘heat to eat’ offer. Made in store at Quorn and transported over to Rothley each day, the selection routinely sells out and is an exciting point of difference for Bradley's.

“Bradley’s Kitchen was introduced at Quorn when we refitted, and it has grown and grown. Before the refit we used to have an old-style deli sandwich offer at both stores which did about ￡500 per week but Bradley’s Kitchen sales are phenomenal – we sell five times that amount in one week at Rothley and more at Quorn.

“It has really taken off and we’re very pleased with it.”