Penny on the Move is currently redeveloping its Woodland Service Station in Fleetwood and when it opens with a soft launch next week, it will have the company’s first own-brand EV charging using its own electricity tariff.
“It’s an interesting one,” says Emma Shell, head of compliance and business development at Penny on the Move. “We are going to be in control of the charge time and the charge cost. We will be using a fairly new piece of kit that effectively has a timer system. Customers will pay for a set amount of time. We will bill that through our till as a standard item of sale, and then the customer plugs in, charges, and then after the period of time they have paid for, the charge will automatically stop. And, if they want more charge, they can pay for more.”
This represents a trial for Penny on the Move and Shell says they will see how it goes for the first three-to-four months. The branding has not been decided but the name Penny Power has been mentioned.
“This is a little bit of a toe in the water just to see how we can commercially make the model work. It was just a great opportunity when we were already committing to quite an extensive project to loop in EV charging into these works.”
The company has 12 sites already offering Instavolt charging and a single BP Pulse offering. Shell says they were an early adopter with regards to Instavolt and have recently upgraded the chargers.
Penny on the Move acquired the Fleetwood site a few years ago having recognised a huge growth opportunity. The BP forecourt was doing very well – and still is – but the shop was tiny (319sq ft) with a small convenience offering.
“There was a massive mismatch between store sales and fuel sales,” explains Shell.
The big opportunity came from a building that was just a shell, that also stood on the site. Other than using that bare shell of a building, the project has been a complete rebuild, with shop sales continuing from the original unit until the new 1,100sq ft store opens. Then the small shop will be demolished.
Another major benefit of the project is that the current shop is slap bang in the middle of the site with a restricted view, whereas the new shop will be to one side of the site, with a good view across it.
Shell likes to refer to the project as her “eight-week knockdown rebuild”. The development represents a six-figure investment and payback is expected within three-to-four years.
When Forecourt Trader spoke to Shell, they were at week six of the eight-week construction and had the full rebuild done, the flooring in and the internal shop fit completed.
Shell says fuel sales are phenomenal at the site. “We’ve got a very, very strong core customer base and that’s really been a big part of how we decided to develop. Our customers have played a key part in some of the range decisions we’ve made.”
Those customers are definitely in for a treat as the new store will have a far bigger range and lots more amenities. There will be a Lavazza coffee machine as well as chilled food, which they did not have in the old store. They had a smattering of Co-op own brand in the old shop but there is ample space for more of that plus the new store has an off licence. There will also be a hot food counter and a big backlit display for ecigs.
Shell says the store team has also played a huge part in the development: “They were involved in the planning and design process and had full autonomy to put forward anything and everything they wanted.”
The store will accept parcels and there will be outdoor parcel lockers. The extra floor space means the store will have a dedicated parcel room which will be a great benefit for staff – organisation and safety wise. “From a health and safety point of view, the risk element is removed. Having a dedicated room will keep the parcels nice and tidy – and keep them off the shop floor,” says Shell.
The new store will operate the same hours as the old one – 6am to 10pm – but will require more staff because of its bigger range, bigger deliveries and the addition of more labour-intensive areas such as hot food.
Woodland Service Station will have a grand opening on November 25, supported by Bestway, BP and Costcutter and other suppliers. The event will include an enhanced BPMe loyalty scheme offer.
