Heart of the matter

PROFILE RETAILER

A sensitive approach

The heart of

the matter

Raj Sharma’s thoughtful makeover of Londis Mayfield has brought it into the 21st century whilst preserving much of its 18th century heart.

Nestled at the heart of the High Weald area of outstanding natural beauty, the medieval West Sussex village of Mayfield offers an array of charms, chief among them its wealth of historic stores and buildings, some of which date back to late 1300.

Sitting pretty among this chocolate-box high street of ancient architecture is Londis Mayfield, which is owned and operated by long-serving convenience retailer Raj Sharma. While not quite as old as some of Mayfield’s other buildings, Raj’s store is thought to date back to the early 1800s and as such, still features more than a few architectural “quirks,” as he fondly refers to them.

These quirks, which for Raj constituted a major part of the store’s charm when he bought it 32 years ago, include multiple split-level floors, an assortment of different ceiling heights and a bumper crop of old beams.

As the only convenience store in the village, and indeed the only grocery store within a four-mile radius, the store has always racked up impressive footfall and sales.

However, in the past five years sales have positively skyrocketed, boosted by the adoption of the Londis brand in 2017 and a further steep spike in footfall, sales and loyalty brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

As a result, in early 2021, Raj and the Londis team decided the time was right to revitalise the much-loved and wellused store, with a huge, yet sensitive, refurbishment project that would bring its bones into the 21st century whilst still preserving its old characterful heart.

Working with his RDM Steven Rumsby and the wider Londis team, Raj came up with a winning design that would let the store build on its recent sales success by growing the key fresh and chilled categories and adding new food-to-go and frozen lines.

Bringing the plan to life required a fullscale two-week closure that started on 22 February 2021.

Almost all the store’s old fixtures and fittings, barring one drinks chiller, were scrapped as part of the development, taking the store back to its original bare walls.

The store’s unconventional design required Raj to employ several clever design and merchandising tricks to make the best-possible use of its space.

Chief among these was the fitting of new slimmer shelving throughout the store to increase aisle widths. “The new shelves are almost half the width of our old very bulky half the width of our old very bulky ones which has made a dramatic difference to the amount of space in the aisles,” Raj says.

An array of different lighting fixtures has also been fitted around the store to make the most of its multiple different ceiling heights. Attractive LED different ceiling heights. Attractive LED panels were fitted at the lowest points, panels were fitted at the lowest points, strip lights in the mid-height sections, strip lights in the mid-height sections, while decorative pendant-style lighting was hung at the rear of the store, which benefits from loftier ceilings.

This section of the store was also designated as the home of a new larger frozen food offer, complemented by three new Cook!-branded food freezers.

The store’s old tobacco gantry was also ditched in favour of a smart new backlit spirits display, giving the store a new more contemporary “cocktail bar” feel.

And the merchandising magic certainly doesn’t end there. Smart space-saving

So many shoppers ask us if we’ve extended because the space looks so much bigger but we haven’t, we’ve just made much better use of the available space.

Raj Sharma Londis Mayfi eld

The reaction from local shoppers has been incredible. They have all been so complimentary of incredible. They have all been so complimentary of how we’ve managed to modernise the store while still retaining all the elements that make it so unique.

Raj Sharma Londis Mayfi eld

wall-mounted units for greetings cards and magazines have enabled Raj to cleverly merchandise these lines on some of the store’s narrowest points, where previously no stock had been displayed – freeing up key space to extend other key ranges, including fresh and chilled.

Overall, the refurbishment enabled Raj to affect a “considerable change” to the store’s mix, expanding key lines such as fresh, chilled and frozen, in line with shopper demand. “We had 6,500 lines before the refurbishment and we’ve extended that to more than 8,000 now, with much accounted for by new fresh and chilled lines and a new Cook! frozen food offer,” he says.

The store’s wholesale fresh mix is now up to an impressive 28%, up from 22% prior to the refit – well above the industry average for Londis stores.

The store’s impressive chilled range, which includes the “very popular” new Jack’s brand, is housed within six brand-new energy-efficient double chillers at the very front of the store, which is also home to a new food- and drinks-to-go offer.

“Steven was incredibly helpful when it came to developing the new food- and drinks-to-go offer,” Raj explains. It includes a My Coffee Station machine and Fwip gelato, along with hot Chicago Town Pizza slices alongside our hot in-store bakery offer.”

Sitting pretty just behind the eye-catching drinks-to-go zone is the store’s chilled beer, wine and cider offer, which is housed across three new double-door chillers.

“BWS is another key category for us and accounts for just over 20% of our wholesale mix,” Raj explains. “Wine

100%Tasty

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Top tips!

Communicate any store closure plans with shoppers well in advance and keep them engaged with regular updates.

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Cleverly positioned Cleverly positioned clip strips can help clip strips can help you to make the you to make the very most of all available space.

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Slimmer shelving can help you to achieve wider aisle widths without having to extend – you will need to replenish stock more often though!

Invest in the right sort of USPs for your unique shopper needs. Kitchen utensils, DIY tools and toys work well for us.

Mayfi eld

sales have also grown, driven by shoppers popping in for a bottle to accompany their evening meal solutions.”

The new-look store also boasts an array of slightly more unconventional ranges specifically brought in to meet the needs of its local shoppers, including the many holidaymakers who rent the plethora of rental properties that pepper the village.

These include mobile phone accessories, essential kitchen equipment and utensils such as cutlery and tin-openers, haberdashery items, DIY tools, and an array of children’s toys.

Mindful of the need to re-open “as soon as possible” Raj and the team “worked like trojans” to complete the refit, eventually finishing up a day and a half ahead of schedule on the evening of Saturday 6 March.

Keen to reveal the store’s new look as soon as possible, Raj invited shoppers in for a sneak peek via an impulsive Facebook post.

“The reaction was incredible. We were only open for a couple of hours but we took just over £1,000,” Raj says.

In total, store sales are now up 25% since the refit with shopper goodwill towards the store even higher and Raj is certainly looking forward to the next 32 years.

STORE INFO Store name: Londis Mayfield Retailer: Raj Sharma Size: 1,800sq ft

Storetype: Community Openinghours: 6am-10pm, 7 days a week