With almost every other type of retail outlet closed on Christmas Day, those that do open do very well. Of course, the supermarkets are forced to shut under the Christmas Day (Trading) Act 2004 but smaller convenience stores are exempt from this and it seems forecourt retailers are cashing in.
Forecourt Trader of the Year Award-winning David Charman is busy getting his Spar Parkfoot site at West Malling in Kent ready for Christmas, which is his third busiest day of the year, after Easter Sunday and Christmas Eve.
Members of his 75-strong staff are lined up to work on the day, with turnover on that one day alone likely to exceed £25,000.
“We’ve not closed our doors for 40 years,” says David. “Not everyone celebrates the occasion, and others are happy to get away and work a three- or four-hour shift, being paid at least double their normal rate.”
The Spar/BP site sells more alcohol on Christmas Day than any other day, with tens of bottles of Baileys being purchased as shoppers realise that theirs at home, stored away from previous festivities, is out of date, says David.
Parkfoot, of course, has an in-store butchers and David reports that beef is now the most popular meat bought from the store for Christmas, although David expects to sell around 400 turkeys for the big day too.
West Malling is quite an affluent area so the business has an impressive Christmas pre-order range, which includes turkeys weighing up to 5kg for £99.95, and a 6kg free range goose for £135.
This year the business introduced a £35 Christmas Breakfast Box For Six, which includes 16 rashers of unsmoked back bacon, 24 chipolatas, black or white pudding, six large flat mushrooms and 12 free range eggs; handmade pies for six at £15.99 including Steak & Stilton and Lamb, Mint & Pea, and a £64 Deluxe Christmas For Two packs, including 1kg of dry aged cote de boeuf and honey roast cooked ham, eight pigs in blankets and 10 stuffing balls.
For Joe Hockenhull, managing director at Hockenhull Garages, Christmas Day is a good trading day too. “Every one of our sites is open as Christmas Day tends to be our best day for shop sales in the entire year,” he says adding that people come in looking for batteries, booze, big bottles of fizzy pop, tobacco, milk, bread and eggs. “We make sure we have plenty of all of these things in as the supermarkets are closed leaving us as a go-to for the essentials. Seasonal chocolate and Christmas promotions always do well as many people are travelling to see loved ones and may have forgotten to get something to take with them. Plus, December 25 is the best day of the year for cheerful customers!”
Further north, Christmas is a big deal for Ziheed Mohammed, manager at Woodman Forecourts, which has three sites in Leeds. That’s because all three sites are open all day, every day, including Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
“We don’t do much in the way of fuel on Christmas Day but the shops are busy. No matter how well people plan ahead, they always miss something. And it’s the everyday items they come in for, like gravy. But they come in for gravy and tend to leave with much more than that.”
Ziheed puts his Christmas order in to Booker four months before the big day. He says he goes big on confectionery and soft drinks. “We don’t sell booze but we do sell a lot of chocolate and soft drinks and I buy products with Christmas packaging where I can. With these sorts of lines, people don’t know they want them until they see them, so they always sell.”
Finally, Budgens Frilford near Abingdon in Oxfordshire may be closed on Christmas Day but people do visit the site on that day to use the car wash and the jet washes.
Operations director Sarah Redley explains: “Although the shop and the forecourt are closed, some people come on Christmas Day to use our valeting facilities. Both the two car washes and the four jet washes are contactless so it’s easy for them to use. I’m not sure why they choose to wash their cars on Christmas Day though, perhaps they are escaping the family!”
Budgens Frilford is open until 8pm on Christmas Eve, closes on Christmas Day then opens from 8am to 6pm on Boxing Day. “Christmas Eve is really busy,” says Sarah, “I love it. It’s my favourite day to work.”
As for trade running up to Christmas and over the festive period, she says it can be ‘hit and miss’. “We’re a top-up shop and we don’t go in for a lot of Christmas lines; we leave those to the supermarkets. We’re really here for last-minute items. Our bakery does really well selling things like sausage rolls. I think this maybe because people are having buffets and top up from our bakery.”
