Subscriber login Close [x]
remember me
You are not logged in.

Conviviality Retail's franchise boss to consult customers on refit of GT stores

Published:  24 April, 2015

Jonathan James, the convenience store expert who has taken on the franchise of 36 Conviviality Retail's stores, is rolling out a customer consultation process to get customers' input on the refit of its new stores.

Jonathan James, the convenience store expert who has taken on the franchise of 36 Conviviality Retail's stores, is rolling out a customer consultation process to get customers' input on the refit of its new GT stores.

James, who is the operations director James Graven & Sons and a former chairman of the Association of Convenience Stores, said each store will be refitted as a one-off, taking into account its demographic.

"Understanding the demographic we trade in is one thing, it is another interpreting that into how the store trades and that's where the customer panel comes in," he said. "It is a tried and tested method at James Graven - we choose a good cross section of our customer base, but also ensure some aren't customers as there is no point preaching to the converted, as you want know what other people think and attract them eventually.

"We want to grow the stores that we trade in by range and by refit, but what we also want to do is to look at growth outside and have a template that is work in process that we can roll out to other stores."

He added that this was "totally unheard of" in the off-licence world and that he was coming to the business with a "totally blank sheet of paper".

"We have to keep within the parameters of the franchise but that doesn't mean we can't work with CVR to tweak that," he said. Some stores will have 30% alcohol, some will have 5%, he explained, but the alcohol offer would be "very prominent"

"I want a very strong off-license led convenience offer - we will obviously looking at innovation around that but want to keep up."

As the former chairman of the ACS and on the North American International Committee of the NACS, James said he had spent time visiting the world's best c-stores and seeing what the operators had implemented. "I want to put those ideas in the CVR franchise, where we can, and I'm keen to do that sooner rather than later," he said.

 The new stores will operate under a number of different fascias, James said, but they would share a strong community focus.  

For Harpers.co.uk's full interview with Jonathan James, click here (subscribers only)

Keywords: