All Retailers articles – Page 17
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News
Sound vision
Falcon Garage is an amazing new development that displays great vision. And so will its customers when plans to open an opticians on the forecourt reach fruition later on this year. The site, in Tadley, Hampshire, is owned by Suresh Patel and his wife Usha, and has been totally transformed ...
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Social climbers
If you’re not posting or tweeting, uploading or linking you could be missing a promotional trick. That’s because more and more forecourt retailers are using the likes of Facebook and Twitter to boost their profile in their community and promote what they do. Take Amanda Manchett, group marketing manager at ...
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Partners for profit
Strong growth continues to underpin the financial performance of MPK Garages Ltd, with the Leicester-based forecourt operator reaping the benefits from its partnership with Londis and an incisive fuel supply strategy. Last year’s turnover for the Top 50 Indie rose by over 20% as its portfolio of 25 filling stations, ...
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The Winning Legacy
When the Chartman Group’s Winning Post site in Exeter finally opened its doors on May 14 it was the culmination of a seven-year plan to create a legacy. It hasn’t all been plain sailing, but by being patient, and with a bit of good luck thrown in, the end ...
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Pride of Portsbridge
It’s been a painstaking process but last month saw the opening of a glorious redevelopment of a forecourt site in Cosham, Portsmouth, by the family-run Garner Group. Brothers Mike and Tim Garner, along with financial director Dave Auger, have overseen an amazing transformation of Portsbridge Service Station, a small, traditional ...
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Creating a legacy (Pt 3)
Exeter-based Top 50 Indie, the Chartman Group, has finally completed the redevelopment of its flagship Winning Post site on the A38 at Haldon Hill (see April and May issues for previous reports). The site lies within an area of great landscape value, and the design brief was for a high-quality ...
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A new beginning
They’d had their eye on it for eight years, and finally last December the Cheema family acquired their first forecourt. They bought a Texaco site just over a mile down the road from their award-winning Costcutter convenience store in Tile Hill, Coventry. It was sold to them by Top 50 ...
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Creating a legacy (Pt 2)
After a rather flood-ridden start, progress has continued steadily at the new leading-edge forecourt being built by the Chartman Group, the Exeter-based Top 50 Indie, which has nine sites. The company received planning approval for the redevelopment of its iconic Winning Post location near Exeter last year, and all was ...
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Sealing the deal
He said he’d never do it, but in February Ken Kay confirmed that he’d put all his eggs into one basket, by signing the final one of his 12 sites over to the Texaco brand. "I have never wanted to do it because putting everything in one basket is a ...
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Creating a legacy
When last-minute planning issues pushed back the start date on Chartman’s knockdown and rebuild of its flagship Winning Post Filling station, near Plymouth, Devon, they could not have imagined what a challenge the elements would present. Work finally began in mid-January, and Chartman director, Clive Sheppard, comments: "Obviously you expect ...
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Forecourt store picks up top convenience award
Former Forecourt Trader of the Year winner Parkfoot Garage was crowned Convenience Retailer of the Year 2014 at the Convenience Retail Awards, organised by trade magazines Convenience Store and The Grocer. The competition celebrates the best convenience stores in the UK in terms of business achievement, product range, customer service, ...
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Shell shocker
Customers making their regular stop at Tanerdy Garage in Carmarthen were in for a bit of a shock. Not only was it the start of 2014 and time to get back to work, but the colours were all different on their local forecourt. Colours that had been there for 85 ...
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Sainsbury’s milestone
A new Sainsbury’s forecourt and store represent a major milestone for the supermarket giant as the number of Sainsbury’s Local stores has exceeded its supermarkets for the first time. The store, Sainsbury’s Balsall Common Local in Coventry, is the 594th Sainsbury’s Local. Sainsbury’s has pledged to open two new c-stores ...
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Site suffers from storm damage
Emergency services had to be called to Hazlegrove Services in Yeovil, Somerset, to deal with storm damage to the canopy. Clive Sheppard, director of Chartman, the Forecourt Trader Top 50 Indie that owns the site, said staff alerted him to a piece of metal that was flapping loose on top ...
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First Costco PFS to open by summer
The US retail giant Costco has confirmed to Forecourt Trader that its first UK petrol filling station (PFS) is scheduled to open before the summer. As Forecourt Trader revealed exclusively last summer Costco won planning permission for a PFS in the car park of its Liverpool site. Nick Deeks, Costco ...
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BP accused of trying to wipe out customer’s site
The owner of a BP garage has accused the oil giant of aiming to wipe out his business after it won planning permission for a massive development just 50m from his site. His grievance was deepened because he only learned about the scheme when a friend told him about the ...
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Nisa-ly does it
Over the past 30 years Barry and Joan Raw have built up a strong business which, at its peak, sold over 15 million litres of fuel from three sites in the North East of England. Until recently, all three sites retailed under the Jet brand with what the family described ...
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World class service
Once again the cheers rang out for Euro Garages at the glittering occasion of the annual Forecourt Trader of the Year Awards in September. Having taken the top award in 2011 for its Beehive site in Blackburn, the group was once again presented with the most prestigious trophy in the ...
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Spar to the rescue
There’s a new name on the pole sign at Geoff Harland’s B&M Harland forecourt in Pickering, North Yorkshire. And although it’s a name well known throughout the forecourt industry, it’s the first time that it’s appeared as branding on fuel. Supplied by Harvest Energy, B&M Harland has been offering Spar-branded ...
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Motoring ahead
There can’t be many service stations around nowadays that date back so far that they’ve gone from doling out hay and water to horses and carriages, right the way through to serving today’s fuel-thirsty vehicles and their demanding drivers/passengers. But that’s just what’s happened at Prestwick-based David Bryson & Son. ...