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Forecourt of the future opens in Welshpool

The latest state-of-the-art self-service tills are just one of the innovative additions in the brand new 3,000 sq.ft. Tuffins store and forecourt that opened last week in Welshpool.

The eye-catching ultra-modern build has been developed on a site purchased by the Delves family four years ago and has been under construction for some six months.

With 12 petrol pumps and an HGV lane, the forecourt, which operates 24 hours a day, is ideally situated on the Welshpool bypass to pick up business from commuters who, once instore are already being tempted by the wide choice available.

Food to go is proving popular along with hot drinks from the Costa machine and the vast number of locally supplied goods has also been well received.

Products from more than 100 local suppliers are available in the store with lines in most categories creating the store’s “Best of Wales and the Borders” range.

Harry Delves, explained: “We are not your typical Nisa store. We do a lot of our own sourcing with some 102 local suppliers in store.”

And the installation of five hybrid tills which can switch from staff operated to self-service, allows customers to pay for both fuel and shopping without the need to have multiple members of staff permanently on the till points.

“These are the first self-service tills we know of that do fuel as well as food. We can run five tills all day but effectively not need more than two people manning them at any one time. It’s a new concept and so far, it is working very well for us,” said Harry.
Bespoke shelving, a feature copper pendent and filament bulbs in the off-licence area, a unique wooden stand for cut flowers and plants, personalised wallpaper incorporating adverts from Tuffins dating back to the 1970s and an abundance of bespoke imagery using both English and Welsh text are just some of the features that make the development stand out.

And the numbers speak for themselves with £80,000 spent on fuel in just the first week and a further £30,000 in the shop.

But the development doesn’t stop there says Harry. There’s still work to be done to get it where the family want it to be.

“There’s lots of improvements to make and much more to come. We will be taking additional Co-op lines in over the coming months and we have plans to expand our coal and logs offer and do something quite elaborate out the front.

“The site is a large one with some free land still unused at the side which we plan to make use of in time – perhaps a drive through facility of some description,” Harry said.