Pricewatch Group has unveiled a £340,000 refurbishment at its Selmeston service station on the A27 between Lewes and Eastbourne, with a Morrisons Daily shop fascia, BP fuel and Wild Bean coffee.
The site, which was once a car garage and until recently a Power-branded forecourt with an unbranded shop, has been owned by Pricewatch Group founders and brothers Paul and Anthony Salvidge for more than 30 years.The major development, the first after an initial extension of the shop in the early 2000s, has meant working within tight local planning restrictions.
The project, which shut the forecourt for six weeks and the shop for three, has been sensitively undertaken, with the wooden slated building repainted charcoal grey from white, an extra window installed, and a resurfaced area which was prreviously used for staff parking. The work has meant that customer parking has doubled to 11 standard bays, one for wheelchair users. There is also an area for EV charging with a 22kW and two 60kW chargers.
In a bold move, the business has removed two of four fuel islands, to create more space, and to avoid two of the pumps being situated so close to what is a busy road.. But, says Anthony Salvidge, having just two pumps at the group’s recently acquired Wilvelsfield site has not held sales back, with fuel volumes expected to exceed 4mlpa there this year.
The Selmeston business, open from 6am to 10pm daily, has also introduced a third fuel grade, super diesel, which is not expected to be a big seller, but will give the site space for a bio fuel, such as hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), when BP launches an offer for its dealers. “We want to be ready for this,” says Pricewatch general manager Tom Buckley.
While the pumps are new, the tanks were re-lined eight months ago.
In a third phase, there are plans for a jet wash and InPost parcel lockers, which are both doing well in other locations for the business. And the brothers want to install a canopy on the forecourt, something which has proved problematic getting past the planning department.
Not having a canopy can see fuel sales plummet on wet days, says Tom, and could be losing the business 30% in annual fuel sales. However, he hopes that installing more lights on the forecourt might mitigate against this.
Inside, the 1,875 sq ft shop has been transformed with a new configuration, and 40% more space given to fresh food. Freezer capacity has doubled with five doors’ worth of range. Plus there is the addition of a central bank of five concession freezers at the entrance, making a statement with feature lighting above.
There are now three, instead of two, Cook freezers and a chest cabinet for Praveen Kumar ”restaurant quality” ready-meals. The business has also introduced a Field Fare freezer, a concession of loose frozen food which is popular in garden centres. Its offer includes individual cinnamon swirls, sweet waffles, almond croissants, and single item meal components such as chicken kiev, mozzarella bites, dumplings and Yorkshire puddings. Tom expects all three concessions to perform well with the shop benefiting from an affluent, older customer base.
There are chilled, ambient and frozen fruit and vegetables, and it is a site where locals can purchase an evening meal with fresh mince meat, rump steak, bacon and prawns among protein on sale. There is also nine doors of chilled beer and wine, and a small chiller for soft drinks at the payment desk.
Also, there is a separate display of local ales including Harvey’s and Long Man. And the store has all the ambient essentials needed for a top-up shop, as well as stocking greetings cards, and car care.
Meanwhile, for commuters travelling on what is one of the busiest stretches of single carriageway in the UK, there is a run of food to go along the wall on the right of the entrance. It includes Wild Bean coffee and Skwishee frozen drink machines, a hot food cabinet, and a morning goods display of items baked in store daily. A Rollover cabinet will follow.
The brothers, who are on the look out to extend their portfolio of 10 Sussex forecourts, are hoping that all of the changes will help to more than double current daily shop sales from £2,200 to £5,000.
