Top 50 indie MRH has collaborated with Spar and Greggs as part of the renovation of the Landmark petrol station and forecourt site at Forder Valley, Plymouth, which reopened this week.

The busy BP branded commuter site, which was originally acquired by MRH in 2010, has seen a total rebuild of its facilities, including a doubling of the size of the shop, to meet the needs of both local convenience and transient customers.

The redevelopment has included the introduction of a new Spar branded shop to cover everyday convenience needs including hot and cold drinks from Costa, and further food-to-go choices from an on-site Greggs – the first in the Plymouth area.

The forecourt site also includes a new high-speed HGV dispenser lane and improved wash facilities with a new rollover wash and two jet washes. As part of redevelopment new MRH washroom facilities and WIFI for customers are available 24 hours a day. New LED lighting has also been installed on the forecourt and shop, and the latest MRH branding across the site.

Karen Dickens, CEO of MRH, said: “The total renovation and rebuild of the Plymouth Landmark site is a great example of MRH’s strategy to work with our partners to create an exceptional brand experience for customers that encourages and creates more opportunities to visit and spend with us.

“I’m incredibly proud of the Landmark site and the MRH / partner teams who have flawlessly delivered. The site is packed with innovation and state of the art facilities. We’ve incorporated the a very strong product offering and with modern developments in Spar and MRH branding on both with the Shard and within the shop design which has created a modern and fresh feel with an element of the ‘wow-factor’.“

Appleby Westwood, head of sales, Steve Thomas, Spar UK’s wholesaler for the South West of England, said: “We are delighted to open another Spar store with MRH. This was a major project which involved completely clearing and rebuilding the site to create the most modern facility for today’s motorists. It represents an exciting new venture in our partnership with MRH and this forecourt store will be stocked with the very latest ranges of Spar own brand products including protein snacks and free-from products, an American range of confectionery, ready meals, fresh and chilled products, and meal deals on food-to-go.”

Andrew Hesketh, head of business development at Greggs, commented: “We are really pleased to open another Greggs shop in partnership with MRH, and are looking forward to developing our relationship with even more openings in the future. The shop at Landmark, Plymouth is a milestone for the Greggs business, as we continue to develop shops in the South West of the country, and being the first Greggs shop in Plymouth. Our partnership with the MRH Group is relatively new and we have enjoyed working closely with them on the new development of the site, resulting in a fantastic overall customer offer.”

MRH is currently trialling a number of new forecourt store formats and customer offers across the UK in partnership with a number of partners, including Spar and Co-op, as part of a plan to invest in its service stations and offer increased overall customer choice.

Spar is working with MRH in piloting the opening of six new convenience stores at MRH sites in the UK and the busy Forder Valley commuter site represents the first of these ventures in the south west.

MRH operates 480 sites across the UK, including 71 with Spar forecourt stores.

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