Franchising News South Africa

R20m revamp for Grahamstown store

The supermarket retail market is becoming overtraded, with customer service now making the difference between mere survival and success.

This was the view of Pick ‘n Pay Eastern Cape general manager Wim Theron at the launch of a R10-million revamp of the Pepper Grove store in Grahamstown last week.

Pepper Grove mall owner and developer Rob Beer said he had spent a further R10-million on building renovations for the store, giving a R20-million combined investment.

Theron said the Grahamstown store was one of the Eastern and Southern Cape‘s top performing family stores and had “the lion‘s share” of Grahamstown‘s market, which, according to independent research, sees R22-million spent monthly on food in the city.

The 16-month revamp saw the store being extended by 40% to almost 3 700m² of floor space, against the family store norm of 2 500m². Pick ‘n Pay‘s Eastern Cape regional manager Russel Booth said the shop was generating the highest monthly turnover of any of their 15 franchise stores and some larger corporate stores in the region.

The key to this high performance indicator lay in the way partners Mark Shelton and Jon Campbell had invested in customer service, intensive staff training and their professional and efficient approach to doing business, he said.

Shelton, in his address, said the store‘s turnover had climbed “every month”. He also promised to match Pick ‘n Pay‘s R50 000 prize to staff for the best Eastern Cape store if they won the competition.

Source: The Herald

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