Top 50 Indie Sewell on the go is celebrating its first-year anniversary of trading with Co-op Wholesale.
Reflecting on the year, managing director Patrick Sewell, says: “We do like to partner with businesses and have long-term relations with our core suppliers, so to move our main shop supply after 20-plus years with our previous supplier, was a big deal for us. And, as with any change, there’s was some trepidation as well as excitement.”
He obviously wanted to make sure that he got it right so started afresh with Sewell on the go’s stock file and had a significant purge on the ranging. “This coupled with the staggered phasing across the stores was somewhat disruptive in the short term but we knew it was all for the best,” he explains.
“Co-op Wholesale has a great team and shadowed us throughout, helping with new shop layouts, ranges, merchandising and new delivery patterns.
“A definite highlight of the partnership has been the attitude, support and culture of everyone.”
Sewell says that despite the backdrop of quite a tough trading period (specifically rising crime, illicit tobacco and fuel market volatility), what has been easy to see is the growth the business has experienced in chilled food sales, for now and to take home, since switching to Co-op Wholesale.
And then there’s Co-op Wholesale’s continuation of Nisa’s MADL (Making a difference locally): “This is a significant difference to how we’ve experienced community support from our main supply partners before. Again, it’s a testament to their culture and ethics. We’ve always supported the communities where we trade, quite literally hundreds of thousands of pounds over the past couple of decades. So the enhanced support from MADL really improves this.”
Sewell says he has always taken the strategic approach of heavily investing in the existing estate. “All our 12 stores are within a geography of about 25 miles so not a year passes without us upgrading several stores and forecourts. This year it’s our flagship store (South Cave). It was a knockdown rebuild in 2015, so the infrastructure is fine, it’s more that we want to modernise the store to be fit for the future, in order to maximise our sales and profitability. It’ll include much of the ‘quirkiness’ of the existing store, but also build upon Co-op bakery, fresh and take-home.
“This development will be a nice prelude to our new-build development in nearby Beverley, which will open in mid-2027.”
