By building strong local ties and meticulously curating its offer of Welsh produce, Y Groser Harlech has created a business that works for both residents and tourists, year-round. By Tanwen Dawn-Hiscox
The allweather grocer I
t’s not every day that, as a pedestrian, you’re overtaken by a mobility scooter moving at less than four miles an hour. But so steep is the hill as I clamber up towards Y Groser Harlech, that an elderly man, a high-vis gilet draped over his headrest, silently glides past me. It’s hard enough for retailers on the level to keep trading but it makes you wonder how this deli, a stone’s throw from Harlech Castle, keeps its doors open 363 days a year. Despite the climb, it has garnered support from locals and also capitalised on the town’s tourist trade since it opened in 2022. Harnessing this mix of footfall was
VITAL STATISICS Address: High Street, Harlech LL46 2YA Number of employees: 2 full time, 3 part-time Percentage of Welsh lines: 70-80%
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May 2026 | Vol.27 Issue 4
very much the plan when Gary and Adrian Stevenson first thought of opening the shop. They moved to Harlech in 2015; Gary was a mental health social worker in Stokeon-Trent, Adrian worked in hospitality in Manchester, but they commuted every day. “We were away for most of the week, and someone said to us, ‘you’ll get to 18 months and you’ll want to find a way of permanently being here’,” Adrian tells FFD. One evening during Covid, the Stevensons sat down with a glass of wine and cooked up a plan. “We knew there was a gap in Harlech. The Spar had closed and the high street was dying a little bit. We wanted to be part of the community and to do something that used our skills, but was more enjoyable than corporate life. We also wanted to employ local people and create jobs for both tourism and the community.” There and then, they decided that they would not be a seasonal shop: they would stay open throughout the year. “Our idea was to fill that winter gap and be profitable year-round. We’ve built a strong following. Christmas Eve is our biggest takings day of the year, whereas most places rely on August Bank Holiday,” Adrian says. The ambition was not just to be a deli, but a high-end convenience store with the aspirational appeal of Waitrose, he adds, not to mention a showcase of Welsh food & drink. The quota currently sits at around 75%, with Wales accounting for all of its fresh meat, charcuterie, dairy and vegetables. The ham is prepped by a local butcher, bread and pastries are parbaked up the road and finished on site every morning, while cakes and buns are from a nearby bakery. Honestly, it would be a quicker exercise to identify the non-Welsh items, there are so few of them. The Stevensons work with wholesalers Blas ar Fwyd and Castell Howell but for a
lot of things, they rely on suggestions from customers and locals. As a couple running a business, they have naturally played to their strengths. They run holiday lets and have bought, developed and sold houses together, but this is their first time working alongside one another in this way. Thankfully, Adrian says: “we have the same vision”. “We’ve found our own niches, I do all the ordering and stock, Gary does all the payroll, rotas and all the accounts.” As they both hate working the till, “everything is still fairly manual”. “We don’t do online. You ring up and say, ‘can I have two pints of milk and a cauliflower’. So it’s all very personal, which is nice.” They prepare welcome packs for holiday homes, and for these as well as for locals, they run accounts, like old-fashioned tabs,
There’s a cost to popping out now, so having a shop locals can walk to is great. billed monthly. “It encourages people to come in. They can pop in for a pint of milk and put it on their account rather than go to Aldi. We try and fly the flag for supporting and shopping local.” This has helped them forge deeper ties with the townspeople of Harlech, as does their opening policy. It’s seven days a week, every day but Christmas and Boxing Day. “We reduce our hours in the winter when