Wholesaler Parfetts has completed four Shop & Go branded forecourt convenience stores since December, and has its sights set on further expansion into the sector as the year progresses.
The firm’s first two Shop & Go forecourts launched in December 2024, with the latest site, in Drybrook, Gloucestershire, marking the fourth; this site is operated by Seevaratnam Muresh, who was the first to adopt the scheme. The firm has a further four Shop & Go stores in development, one of which is a filling station, while it is in various stages of conversation about adopting the fascia with around 30 other retailers.
Parfetts’ retail sales controller, John O’Neil, says the Shop & Go brand was developed in response to customer feedback. “We had retailers come to us that have forecourts or stores in a transient location with high footfall, and the Go Local and Go Local Extra offerings didn’t really fit what their store was about”.
The Drybrook store represents something of a show-home for the new fascia. While O’Neil says “in an ideal world” all Shop & Go stores would have the same look and feel, Parfetts will “work with retailers and let them have their input, sticking as close as we can to that design.”
Store owners wanting to adopt Shop & Go sign up for a five-year agreement with Parfetts, with monthly purchase targets that “would be an easily achievable minimum spend”. The firm pays for all branded fascia and imagery, with shopkeepers funding store refits either themselves or via finance packages Parfetts can facilitate. Works are completed by Parfetts preferred shopfitters “because we know what standards we’re getting”, O’Neil says.
O’Neil says Parfetts is “hoping to get to 50 for the year” with its Shop & Go fascias, which represent a “standout” offering to retailers. Forecourt and store owners who choose the brand can get a 2% kickback on prices paid for promotional items when they agree to stock full promotional lines, while the firm has previously said margins can be as high as 30%.
Parfetts’ ability to provide these incentives is largely down to it being an employee-owned firm, O’Neil says, as profits are reinvested into the company rather than being paid to majority shareholders. “It’s the lever we have that no one else has. It allows us to invest in stores and our offering. It’s why our offer is as strong as it is compared to the competition.”
While being focussed on the North West, Parfetts has expanded significantly in recent years. A new Birmingham depot came on stream in 2023, while a further one in Southampton, the firm’s ninth, is scheduled to open in the second half of 2025.
