Local Shop

poo poo

So we own a local shop out in the boglands.

Over the years, the shop has been downgraded and downgraded, made smaller and has had to stop selling certain things like veg and other quickly perishable items.

This has all come about due to the influx of extreme discount stores, aldi, lidl, etc etc people being hit hard in the pocket everywhere. The shop is not profitable, and will close soon if something isnt done.

The surrounding area has about 300 houses, but getting those people in the door is hard, if only people from those house would buy one or one extra item a week from the shop, the whole business would turn around.

Im not here with a sob story, im here looking for ideas about how to get the message across to people to shop local!

1 Prime example would be a woman who live 30 feet from the shop door. She has never set foot in the place, due to pre conceived notions of very expensive goods. This woman will drive for 20mins past our door to get a litre of milk in aldi. at about 20c cheaper, all the while spending about €1.50 on petrol getting there!

As shops go nowadays, we cannot compete with prices of discount stores etc, i get that - people do not however, we supply a lot of local elderly people, some who dont drive, and basically going to the shop is their daily activity. If we go it would get very awkward for them.

If you were in the situation, what ideas would you try to get local people to shop local, how would you go about asking people to make an effort to come in the door - even if they have to travel further to complete the shop.

We employ 1 person, i'd imagine if the shop turnover increased significantly enough we could employ 2. The person we employ is putting a kid through college, she needs her job.

You have a shop - its not doin good - how do you save it!

L1011

Back home the local supermarket made a very public ultimatum in the local press that it was a case of support it more or it was closing. It worked, until the depths of the recession kicked in and it closed due to that (parent firm had one the next town over so the few staff were moved). Not being quite as abrasive as they were in this might have some impact.

Part of the problem of removing perishable items is that it will be downgraded in customers minds also, presumably to an emergency milk and bread store only. I doubt it'll be a cheap option to bring them back in but it does only add to the idea that people "have" to shop elsewhere.

Can you get someone who is not obviously connected to you to ask people in the area why they drive beyond to Aldi etc, in case there is another reason you haven't noticed?

My personal experiences might not be worth that much though - my partners parents had a general shop and a TV shop close down on them in the past 20 years!

VincePP

Unfortunately it is just so difficult for small local traders. With most houses having 2 cars people are very mobile and will pick things up on the way home.

They also tend not to do a big shop anymore and "pop in" to supermarkets and the Aldis 3 - 5 times a week and these stores have embraced that consumer. - A couple of years ago aldi didn't have baskets and didn't take credit cards. Tesco has an express lane that was slow, they now have 6-8 self service checkouts that makes it extra fast.

A store on my way home closed down recently - kellys Gala in Nurney (kildare). They used to be a post office, but that was closed, they tried gifts and they put in a coffee shop with fab cakes. They operated for 20 years and closed 2 weeks ago.

As a local retailer myself but in a few large towns/cities, and being in the business over 30 years now, it is more difficult now than ever. Maybe get one of the symbol groups to have a look at it and see if they can come up with ideas - they'll have loads of data to hand. Daybreak seems to be a style that suits rural areas. (i think its musgraves)

Atlantic Dawn

There was a shop near me which closed down about 10 years ago, at one stage it would have been the most profitable in the town, this was while the parents ran the shop. Later on the son got hold of it and started to do some rather stupid things like charge an additional 50cent for phone credit, the shop was beside a local school and would have had massive business from kids at lunchtime. Another shop opened up within a 5 minute walk and they charge nothing additional for phone credit, this brought in all the kids from the school and people who felt the 50cent charge was a rip off and this new shop pretty much took all their business. Small things like this where you might cut some profit will draw people in. Try to add services like PayZone to draw people in wishing to pay toll charges, get phone credit etc.

Try to get in stock which will draw customers in who want a bargain and they will likely buy other items like newspapers, milk, cigarettes etc that you get a margin on, look at items like...
Bulk washing powder boxes.
Near out of date stock of sweets, crisps, soft drinks etc that will offload quickly.

Do you have a Facebook page to promote bargains in your store? It's free to set one up and worth doing, perhaps run some prize where you give a customer €500 every few months or similar.

VincePP

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

There was a shop near me which closed down about 10 years ago, at one stage it would have been the most profitable in the town, this was while the parents ran the shop. Later on the son got hold of it and started to do some rather stupid things like charge an additional 50cent for phone credit, the shop was beside a local school and would have had massive business from kids at lunchtime. Another shop opened up within a 5 minute walk and they charge nothing additional for phone credit, this brought in all the kids from the school and people who felt the 50cent charge was a rip off and this new shop pretty much took all their business. Small things like this where you might cut some profit will draw people in. Try to add services like PayZone to draw people in wishing to pay toll charges, get phone credit etc.

Try to get in stock which will draw customers in who want a bargain and they will likely buy other items like newspapers, milk, cigarettes etc that you get a margin on, look at items like...
Bulk washing powder boxes.
Near out of date stock of sweets, crisps, soft drinks etc that will offload quickly.

Do you have a Facebook page to promote bargains in your store? It's free to set one up and worth doing, perhaps run some prize where you give a customer €500 every few months or similar.

A payzone system with no charge is a loss maker for a retailer. Many have just stopped offering it as the benefits are not their anymore.

Very little margin on bulk powders, if anything they work out more expensive than the regular offers on small sizes in supermarkets.

Similarly very little margin on cigarettes. Newspaper sales have been decimated in recent years.

Near out of date - not worth the hassle. You need big volume, not a village of 300.

Facebook - not as simple as it seems. You need to pay for your posts to be seen regularly and it takes a lot of time to manage well.

Unfortunately, unless you are with a symbol group, it it extremely difficult to eke a living from a local store these days.

ED E

You run what the Americans call a convenience store. Shoppers need to be willing to pay for convenience and it sounds like your customer base are not. Irish consumers generally, IMO, are very price-centric. That can't really be helped.

poo poo

VincePP wrote: »

A payzone system with no charge is a loss maker for a retailer. Many have just stopped offering it as the benefits are not their anymore.

Very little margin on bulk powders, if anything they work out more expensive than the regular offers on small sizes in supermarkets.

Similarly very little margin on cigarettes. Newspaper sales have been decimated in recent years.

Near out of date - not worth the hassle. You need big volume, not a village of 300.

Facebook - not as simple as it seems. You need to pay for your posts to be seen regularly and it takes a lot of time to manage well.

Unfortunately, unless you are with a symbol group, it it extremely difficult to eke a living from a local store these days.

This is all true - Bulk washing powders etc seem to have become a hardware store item - We try to stay away from anything "king size" We are a convenience - so the smaller the better - its a stop gap for small items until people go to big stores. Keeps the price down in peoples heads.

We do charge €0.50 for credit, we have to - it costs us nearly 30c a transaction, and there is 0 margin on credit now. so even with the 50c charge we lose 10c. It's maddening.

Im not giving up though just yet - I want to start something like getting everyone to simply buy milk - or beans - or something - 1 item in the shop a week.

1 item will always turn into 4 very easily. But it is getting a campaign of BUY THIS HERE ONLY TO SUPPORT LOCAL. I just need the angle/gimmick.

Someone gimme an idea!!

colm_mcm

Do you do home delivery or fuels?

poo poo

Coal, briquettes, gas - yes - we will deliver when requested.

punisher5112

Could you start up like a branded shop as they do great deals under the franchise.

E.g centra spar etc.

Toilet roll offers always a great pull.
Also alcohol deals if you don't have a licence consider getting one.

To get kids in do a day like a Saturday or Sunday special on some sweets and stuff.

Not all these big supermarket chains are cheaper on everything.

We have a local centra and does great deals at times much cheaper then Tesco, aldo and lidl etc.

Also consider some local advertisement and signage on delivery van that's attractive.

Use to have another local store and was sort of put off by the aisle set up including the small tiny entrance door you would have to open/close yourself. Little things go a long way.

poo poo

Yes we have an off licence - biggest part of the business - we are also pretty competitive on wines etc and try to only stock flashed (suoplier branded offers) cans, bottles etc to get the message across we are not adding to price and are selling at the same prices as other retailers.

Not many kids around but we dostock the cheaper 10c and 20c items for them.

What offer would make you head to your local shop - like right now - first thing that comes to mind?

punisher5112

poo poo wrote: »

Yes we have an off licence - biggest part of the business - we are also pretty competitive on wines etc and try to only stock flashed (suoplier branded offers) cans, bottles etc to get the message across we are not adding to price and are selling at the same prices as other retailers.

Not many kids around but we dostock the cheaper 10c and 20c items for them.

What offer would make you head to your local shop - like right now - first thing that comes to mind?

Toilet rolls, fresh bread, cakes and nice ones I mean, something worth considering depending on client base could be the likes of selections of pre made real dinners.

Deals on soft drinks, washing detergent, bin bags good quality and strong.

In summer do you do cones?
Is there space to set up a little coffee shop part ?

punisher5112

I know this may seem strange but could you go out and try and sell your business as explain to those around what you do and that if you don't have something's that you can get them and so on.

Would you consider the shop front desirable? Fresh looking and inviting.

poo poo

punisher5112 wrote: »

I know this may seem strange but could you go out and try and sell your business as explain to those around what you do and that if you don't have something's that you can get them and so on.

Would you consider the shop front desirable? Fresh looking and inviting.

Good points here. Shop front could do with new signage but anything decent is 2k i dont have.

A mail run might be worth a try.

On the cone machine - A new caprigani soft cone machine costs in the region of €8000.00

Allot of cones to sell to turn that into a profit!! We have looked at it tho but we decided to stick to the ice creams in the freezer!

dudara

Moved to E&BM

dudara

Stheno

poo poo wrote: »

Good points here. Shop front could do with new signage but anything decent is 2k i dont have.

A mail run might be worth a try.

On the cone machine - A new caprigani soft cone machine costs in the region of €8000.00

Allot of cones to sell to turn that into a profit!! We have looked at it tho but we decided to stick to the ice creams in the freezer!

Sounds to me like you are between a rock and a hard place, in that what you currently offer is not bringing in enough business but you can't afford to invest to bring in more business

punisher5112

How big is the premises could you look for someone else to team up or invest something for a return. I know probably non runner but anything.

Wow €8k for machine didn't know that.


Could you do a charity fundraiser day where certain amount made goes to local and well deserved charity as it would be a good way to bring attention to you and charity.

Have you tried credit union or bank for a loan to do up outer part to get it attractive ?

sterling10

Don't have a shop, but live in the countryside that doesn't have a shop in the village, but wish there was one

Few ideas on the basis I wish someone opened up in our village and I even thought of doing it myself in the old shop building before it was sold and turned into a house

Could you do a village wise door to door survey, questionnaire asking people what they would like from the shop? Could use it as great info gathering from your customers while also you could sell your business, I delivery etc, collect numbers for promotions etc. Could get all the feedback you need, take a bit of work but will be worth it.

Could you sell local community produce, Anne's eggs, Michelle cakes, Marys brown bread? Make it the community shop?

I often wondered if it would be possible to sell all local produce in the local shop, Cork milk, cork bread, cork ham, cork jam.... your not buying irish your buying cork?? Maybe a bit drastic but if you want to go down local route and smaller producers may be delighted with an outlet for their products as they have same problem with the Aldi as lidl also.

Maybe offer, I can buy online for you, off the eBay, amazon's etc, can come safe to your place and either deliver or collect? Y iungster no problem doing it others not so, might get a bit of footfall into the shop. Maybe even just set up as base for Internet shopping collection depot.

I don't know what people think it's hard to use social media, or why they employ them to do it for a business, one tweet a day or Facebook would be enough, let people know your alive. Even if it's just to say great day for an ice cream!

Cater for your audience, have the silage men stopping for their 'silage special' large roll with coke and taytos for €7 you'll drop it out to the tractor cos they are in a rush. Or the match day breakfast special weekend, have your sausage rasher bread etc bundle special for the Sunday morning fry of the big game.

And smile smile smile, there's one shop I know of that's doing terrible only because the one that owns it is a miserable cow and no one wants to go there yet what she sells is brilliant

poo poo

Stheno wrote: »

Sounds to me like you are between a rock and a hard place, in that what you currently offer is not bringing in enough business but you can't afford to invest to bring in more business

Yes but thats the way it is - We will get there though! Baby steps - lets get people in the door first!

The shop is very small now - too small for any chain to take it on.

lab man

MonkieSocks wrote:

long Journey Home for United on the motorway tonight

Very simple thing is , good scones, me an a guy have to wait each morn after work 15 mins on the way home I think the shop does 3 for 2,50 not sure tho as there always is a sur I'll get the paper as well ...

poo poo

sterling10 wrote: »

Don't have a shop, but live in the countryside that doesn't have a shop in the village, but wish there was one

Few ideas on the basis I wish someone opened up in our village and I even thought of doing it myself in the old shop building before it was sold and turned into a house

Could you do a village wise door to door survey, questionnaire asking people what they would like from the shop? Could use it as great info gathering from your customers while also you could sell your business, I delivery etc, collect numbers for promotions etc. Could get all the feedback you need, take a bit of work but will be worth it.

Could you sell local community produce, Anne's eggs, Michelle cakes, Marys brown bread? Make it the community shop?

I often wondered if it would be possible to sell all local produce in the local shop, Cork milk, cork bread, cork ham, cork jam.... your not buying irish your buying cork?? Maybe a bit drastic but if you want to go down local route and smaller producers may be delighted with an outlet for their products as they have same problem with the Aldi as lidl also.

Maybe offer, I can buy online for you, off the eBay, amazon's etc, can come safe to your place and either deliver or collect? Y iungster no problem doing it others not so, might get a bit of footfall into the shop. Maybe even just set up as base for Internet shopping collection depot.

I don't know what people think it's hard to use social media, or why they employ them to do it for a business, one tweet a day or Facebook would be enough, let people know your alive. Even if it's just to say great day for an ice cream!

Cater for your audience, have the silage men stopping for their 'silage special' large roll with coke and taytos for €7 you'll drop it out to the tractor cos they are in a rush. Or the match day breakfast special weekend, have your sausage rasher bread etc bundle special for the Sunday morning fry of the big game.

And smile smile smile, there's one shop I know of that's doing terrible only because the one that owns it is a miserable cow and no one wants to go there yet what she sells is brilliant

We sell local potatoes and eggs - the milkman is a local man - there is another job depending on shops like ours.

I use social media a good bit.

The funny thing about the depot idea is that we are like parcel motel - we could have ten packages here somedays - and you would not believe it but 90% of people tell the drivers to drop it with us - collect, say thanks and leave - Its something im considering snapping over shortly!!

Allyall

poo poo wrote: »

We sell local potatoes and eggs - the milkman is a local man - there is another job depending on shops like ours.

I use social media a good bit.

The funny thing about the depot idea is that we are like parcel motel - we could have ten packages here somedays - and you would not believe it but 90% of people tell the drivers to drop it with us - collect, say thanks and leave - Its something im considering snapping over shortly!!

Why not put a notice up asking to support your local (if you don't already), and have it where they can't miss it when they're collecting their parcels.
Regarding Soft cone machine, you can rent them from €200 per month, that way if it wasn't so succesful, you wouldn't be down a fortune.

http://www.icecreamking.ie/rental-prices.html

There are probably a ton of other places, I didn't check. There is also a rural shop alliance in the UK, I don't think there is one here. They email a newsletter and they publish a magazine. It may be worth having a look at for ideas, as joining them may have no benefits here. It may also encourage you to set up something similar if you thought it might be worth it.

gollyitsolly

A local newsagent in my area had to compete with all the big supermarkets around who were doing papers,cigarettes etc. She started to sell wool in a small section an after a few weeks she turned half her shop into a wool shop.Also could you get one of those delivery box things set up outside for all the people who buy stuff online. I would love to go back to the days when the shopkeeper sold a loose cigarette, a slice of cheese,loose broken biscuits etc... There are a lot of olde worlde sweet shops opened in Dublin in the last few years. Do you do rolls and sambos and pastries? Maybe take a day off and drive around to see what other small successful businesses are doing.

Allyall

Just adding a link to that rural shop alliance in the UK and also noticed that there is an app that may be useful,
http://www.ruralshops.org.uk/my-perfect-shop/

http://www.ruralshops.org.uk/category/free-advice/

Atlantic Dawn

What would be your top 10 items marginwise in the shop? What's your best seller?

Do you stock a wide selection of batteries, I know the margins on these can be high and people often need them in an emergency, the margins on those button cell batteries for car key fobs etc is usually 5 times plus the cost price and they take up very little space.

colm_mcm

If you have off licence customers, surely some sort of frozen pizza+ice cream+frozen wedges deal or similar thing involving a firelog/firepack (bad time of year I know) would get customers about to have a night in to start to buy food in your shop instead of just drink

orthsquel

What's the outside of the shop like? Is it clean, smart, nice looking windows, functioning doors? I don't see it mentioned but are you in a town/village street or off the street and close to a cluster of houses? What's the car parking like, if you are a convenience shop, can people actually park outside your premises and pop in, or is it a really busy road? is there restricted parking? What sort of passing traffic have you got, just locals going from home/school and work or main road traffic? Would you have many tourists in the area or people passing through on day trips?

What are services/businesses around you that you could be getting custom from? And what is missing? I assume you have seen the other supermarkets/discount stores and seen what they sell and how they do things, is there something that you might offer that they don't? Is there something that you could offer that they don't?

... you seem to have an elderly customer base, mainly those who don't drive, you offer delivery services for coal etc, I suspect you might have once offered a deli at some point but do you offer anything like full meals that you literally can just put in the oven or microwave? do any of the cafes or restaurants in the area offer this? Would you consider a partnership with someone for this?

edit: what are your opening hours like? Would they be in line with your competitors or shorter or longer? Would you be open at a time that suits the 300 people around you to their daily life including at weekends?

uck51js9zml2yt

You really need to start engaging with your customers.

Do a door to door survey. Have some standard questions but it also gives you the opportunity to talk to them and find out why they dont use you..and more importantly, address those reasons on the door step.
Do weekly specials. Use a flyer or get peoples mobile numbers and text them.
The customers you have coming in, ask them why they come in. What would make the come in more.
These are No cost ( or relatively) opportunities to turn the business around.

If you find out what they want and why they don't come in then you can address the issues.

Hollister11

If your a local community shop, the one thing you need to focus on is the community. I think i read there is 300 people in the village, get to know your customers.

There's no point in you pumping money into advertising, it's to expensive, and it's not going to bring many people from outside the village into the shop. What you need to do is set up a facebook page, and ask your customers to 'like' it. You can post your deals up here, and also by asking your customers to like it, your engaging in conversation with them. Get your customers to select 'get notifications' on facebook, so there alerted to deals instantly. Also set up a whatsApp group so you can text your deals out, or even email.

One thing you can push is "fiver friday". Every friday give your customers a deal for €5. Maybe a frozen pizza, drink, and a treat. Small enough margin, but if you could get 30-40 people coming in for that, it could help you out, they may also pick up other items like milk, bread ect.

What is the decor, and layout of the shop like ? Is it a clean clutter free layout with plenty of light, or is it a dark, depressing feel to the shop ? Make your customers feel welcome, and give them a reason to come in, other than just supporting you because your there

Aimeee

Most of what I would suggest has already been mentioned. There is a small shop local to us and I go there nearly every day mainly for the paper for my neighbours and also for milk,bread etc. I completely avoid town traffic.
There are often offers on detergents, toilet paper, dishwasher tablets which I'll pick up when there.
I can't believe people pop in to pick up their parcels and don't buy. I'd never do that, I will always purchase something if I've had to use a store for drop off.
The local store actually is one of the drop offs for DPD I think. I was so delighted when I discovered that as it meant I could also drop off the item for return, for a set fee (3.50). Way cheaper than post office/postage return.
I'm assuming there is a service charge going to the shop for the facility.
Maybe something you could look into.
Are there any schools/charities local to you? Our local store is well renowned for donating to various school fundraisers (three primairies within the locality), and every table quiz, concert etc the store will have donated some goodies or prizes or whatever.
I'd like to think this leads to footfall but I'm so surprised that people just walk into your shop to pick up a parcel and don't feel the need to return the favour in some way, makes me wonder about your locality.
Unfortunately the elderly are being forgotten about and this is just another form of it. Our local store does a lot of stuff for the local elderly. I went in one day only to see one of the girls returning a saucepan to some old guy from across the road, she'd cooked the bacon for him earlier in the day as he couldn't do it himself at home. I've seen them do a shop for people who can't get out of their car, take the list and drop it out, take the money etc. All these small things that keeps people in their homes and keeps them going, disappear when places like your store disappear.
Do you sell stamps? Great draw for people as post office is a time sucker most of the time.
Can you put benches outside for the Summer *if it ever shows up*, have a cup of coffee, tea, icecream etc.
Are you on a cycle route at all, tourist trail. Advertise and maybe offer discount coffee or whatever you can.
Bags of potatoes are another purchase, the big bags that I wouldn't pick up in the supermarket.
Colouring competitions for the kids at Halloween, Easter etc.
Notice board with local notes.advertisements etc.
Is your shop nice, staff nice and chatty. I think this goes a long way with people.
Are there local GAA clubs that run a lotto, could you sell tickets?
Best of luck, I hope you get the people in!

Another thing I thought of; pencils, copies, A4 copies, whatever the kids are using in school. I'd sooner pop down the road if we are stuck for A4 copy any evening after school than drag the kids into town, parking, school traffic etc etc. Can you stock/sell that stuff. Maybe have a deal mid year or even back to school times, though I think you'd be hard pushed to compete with the big stores at that time. Strike at a different time of year.
Another thing though this may be strictly rural, mass cards already presigned/mass paid for. You may only get one or two a year buying such a thing but it might bring a new person who will tell someone else etc etc. I have no idea by the way how that one works in terms of you selling them but maybe something worth looking into.

RedXIV

poo poo wrote: »

Coal, briquettes, gas - yes - we will deliver when requested.

Could you potentially deliver something like an "essentials box"? Could be something that might appeal to the elderly neightbours. Could do a version that has the basics for a weekly shop and then a top up one with just something like milk or bread? Just a thought?