Top 50 Indie Pearl Forecourts has opened its 18th site, with its 19th set to open in December and its 20th following early next year.
Pearl bought the 18th site – Shell Failsworth near Manchester – from the receivers in 2022. Owner Hanif Mohmed described the site as derelict. “It took an eternity for planning to go through but the site underwent a knockdown rebuild earlier this year with a new shop, forecourt, canopy and tanks,” he explains.
Mohmed has kept the forecourt with Shell because everyone who previously used it knew it as a Shell site. It has an HGV lane as well as an AdBlue pump. There are 20 car parking spaces, three jet wash bays and air/screenwash and a vac with fragrance.
The site now has a 3,000sq ft Nisa-branded store. He says they chose Nisa because they have other stores under the fascia and know the group well but also because Nisa recycles cardboard and plastic for them. Sustainability is important to Pearl and the company plans to put solar panels on the shop and canopy.
Food-to-go wise, they have three of their own concessions at Shell Failsworth: Shawarma-to-go offering meats such as chicken with salad in a naan bread; Jacket Potatoes-to-go; and Pizza Slices-to-go – with the names of the latter two making it obvious to customers what they are selling. All three concessions stand side by side in the store, with the same staff serving across all three food types. The convenience store is open around the clock but the food to go will initially be available from 11am to 7pm, with hours then extended if needed.
The site lies on the busy A62 dual carriageway and is not short of competition thanks to a Rontec and MFG site close by.
Mohmed says they have applied for planning permission for EV chargepoints for some of their sites but he is not convinced that it’s the right way to go at the moment. “Getting power to the sites is so expensive and there doesn’t seem a huge appetite for EVs. If demand was strong then it would be a different story. I have done a lot of research and spoken to a lot of people and I have heard that most drivers don’t visit the store while they are charging, they just sit in their cars so there are not the extra sales either.”
Pearl’s 19th site will be a new-to-industry one in Bradford, due to open in December, followed by the 20th – another new-to-industry site in Bury, due to open in February. And Mohmed confirms that they will continue to invest in their existing sites as and when it’s needed to ensure the company keeps meeting consumer demands.
