Top 50 Indie Sewell on the go has relaunched its flagship South Cave forecourt near Hull, in a £250,000 investment which it says better showcases Co-op Wholesale’s breadth of chilled food.
The redevelopment, which closed the shop for 10 days, includes a Co-op bakery, 30% more refrigeration, a Subway annexe, and a Stone Willy’s food to go section. There are three Costa coffee machines, a Tango Ice Blast and a slush unit from Frozen Brothers.
There is an extra self-checkout, and a reimagined internal branding for the 12-site operator which uses “earthy colours”, alongside black, and timber effect elements to give a “richer feel more in keeping with the Co-op brand”.
So says managing director Patrick Sewell, who explains that the former Forecourt Trader of the Year site, on the A63 between the M62 and the Humber Bridge, had last been redeveloped 11 years ago, a year before it won the industry’s top accolade. This meant it “was not in a bad state”, says Sewell, and already featured an exposed industrial-style ceiling popular in forecourts today.
He says that he wanted to redevelop the 24-hour outlet, which re-opened just over a week ago, to “maximise the potential with Co-op, in space allocation and refrigeration”. He adds: “The biggest change is in refrigeration in terms of better accommodating a wider range of Co-op chilled lines.
“Our chillers were not designed for the breadth of the Co-op range, and with the refit we largely tailored everything around making chilled work. We now have a more comprehensive convenience offer than we have ever had, as we try to find the sweet spot on balancing grab and go with a credible proposition for takehome as well.”
Now the site’s modern aesthetic includes a hard-wearing laminate wooden-effect Karndean floor, stylish black energy-efficient Pastorfrigor refrigeration, feature lighting above six Cook freezers in the centre of the 2,500sq ft store, and a two-bay enclosed Co-op bakery unit, with pastries and bread products.
Sewell says: “We’re really pleased with our refit – it’s all come together so well, and the addition of the Co-op instore bakery is performing even better than planned alongside our coffee and drinks facilities.
“The process has been nice and smooth while the end result is just brilliant – we’ve long prided ourselves on having smart stores, but this truly is next level roadside retail proposition.”
Electronic shelf-edge labelling, which comes as standard in Sewell’s sites, is also fitted. And the three self-checkouts for fuel and grocery payments, now outnumber the two manned tills. “Historically self-checkout has taken 30% of total transactions [when three of the five checkouts were manned], and I’d expect this to increase to 35%,” says Sewell.
The 5.5mlpa BP forecourt itself was given a refresh with £25,000 of new concreting and drainage work; and Sewell’s team upgraded the site’s IT to make it more secure against the possibility of cyber-attacks.
The laundry machine onsite is to be removed to make way for a reverse vending machine to go alongside the three jet washes, rollover car wash, InPost, Quadient and Yeep! parcel lockers, and outside seating area, already on the forecourt apron.
Sewell is now more than a year in as a ‘Proud to stock Co-op’ operator with the brand in place across his estate. To celebrate the relaunch of South Cave, Co-op Wholesale’s charity – Making A Difference Locally (MADL) – has donated £250 to South Cave Scouts, and £250 to Jaguar U15 Girls Football team.
