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Focus on fresh and first-class customer service

Providing local people with everything they need and serving it with a smile is the simple recipe for success at a new Nisa Local store in Coventry which is seeing sales growing daily since opening in Autumn.

The shop in Billing Road, Coventry, held a store launch party for local people this month but officially began trading in September last year having been converted from an independent fascia to a Nisa store of the Future Evolution store.

The shop had been trading largely as a CTN store for 35 years with limited grocery but a year ago was acquired by AAE Retail who added it to their two other Coventry-based Nisa stores and developed the site.

The original shop was extended, knocking through to an adjoining house to increase size from 900 to 1,500 sq. ft., and the interior gutted and given a full Store of the Future 2 Evolution re-fit.

Eleven metres of chillers were added along with a four-door remote freezer to enable the retailer to offer an impressive array of fresh from Co-op own label which has ensured customers keep coming through the doors and the retailers’ desire to deliver all day to day needs of local people with the best customer service, is proving to be a winning formula.

Director of AAE Retail, Janaarthany Ahilawanar, said: “This convenience store is designed with the vision of a modern, corner shop concept where customers can find everything they need without going to a large supermarket.

“We aim to be different from an ordinary corner shop. We keep the availability based on the needs of our customers and display goods based on their feedback, so they can find what they actually want to buy, rather than what we want to sell,” she explained. 

“We are receiving great feedback from our customers about the look and feel of our store and our staff approach.”

The retailers believe providing first class customer service will stand them apart from the multiples and ensure their future success.

Mrs Ahilawanar said: “We believe giving the best customer experience and being close to our local community will definitely outperform the retail giants as most of them are moving from traditional big smile customer service to automated self-service machines. We’re trying to fill that gap and use it to our advantage and we know our customers value that by their great feedback.”

Being able to support local charities and good causes through their Making a Difference Locally account also helps them stand out, she said.