Tates Pyecombe is the latest forecourt in the four-strong family-owned chain to be rebranded Morrisons Daily and Valero in a £750,000 refurbishment which has driven significant uplifts in shop and fuel sales in the first weeks since re-opening.
The flagship 24-hour site, on the A23 just outside Brighton, has already seen shop sales increase by £7,000 a week to £25,000, and fuel rise from a weekly 65,000 litres to 75,000 litres since switching from Spar and Texaco, says Dave Chapman, Tates’ retail and forecourt principle.
This is despite launching at “a really challenging time”, at the end of its busy summer tourist season, and amid volatile fuel prices. Also a power cut in the first days of opening led to £2,000 of chilled stock being thrown away.
A generator has now been installed at the site, which is next to the owner’s Kia car dealership, to prevent loss of stock from outages in the future.
As well as a large shop, there is plenty parking for commuters and locals, and five fuel islands for cars, and one for HGV drivers.
The shop was transformed during the three weeks of work to having banks of chillers with doors, for snacks, meals, dairy, deli, meat, fruit and vegetables, and alcohol; and a four-door freezer.
At the entrance there is a Morrisons bakery section and two Grab & Go hot food units, with pastry products and burgers, as well as Rollover cabinet. There is also an unbranded coffee machine, using beans already chosen for and popular in the Tate family’s garden centre business. “We charge £2.99 for a 12-ounce cappuccino, which compares with £3.50 for the same down the road,” says Chapman, “and that still gives us a good margin at 75%.”
Other influences from the garden centres are a HomeCooks ready-meal freezer, and a Chunk of Devon chest unit with handmade baked and frozen pies, pasties and sausage rolls, including gluten-free options. “They’re something a bit different, and are proving popular with locals who live in nearby villages such as Poynings and Henfield,” says Chapman.
There is also a Praveen Kumar chest freezer of Indian ready-meals, and an impressive alcohol range for customers looking for a convenient treat night takeaway replacement.
Other nice touches include an end of aisle Wild Munch display of premium snacks, with chilli rice crackers and nuts in the mix, next to the alcohol fixture. And two of the three checkouts are self-service.
The business has just one forecourt to complete in the £2m refurbishment programme, in which all sites are being converted to the new shop and fuel brands.
Crawley will be the final site to go live with the new colours in the new year. Meanwhile, sales continue to increase at the latest conversion, says Chapman. “There’s so much potential at Pyecombe, and once the work is finished on refitting the toilets the site will start operating at full capacity.”
