For Andrew Board, responsible retailing starts well before the till. It is about knowing the community, understanding the rules and making sure the people behind the counter have the confidence and tools to apply them.
Board’s Core Convenience Store in Durham is a family-run business of more than 30 years’ standing. He bought the store in 2019, as his parents moved towards retirement, choosing a site in the community where he was born, raised and has lived all his life. The just-under-2,000sq ft Premier store sits on a large housing estate within a six-unit shopping parade, alongside a car park and a number of major-name competitors. A developing Mains Post Office has also helped establish the store as a community hub.
Rather than simply adopting national ranges and planograms, Board finds out what the local community wants and builds the store’s offer around it. He has also placed accessibility and inclusivity high on the agenda, while the store is a member of the Shopwatch group, working with police, the local authority and neighbourhood wardens to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour and support victims.
Age-restricted sales are another area where Board has built responsibility into the operation. Core Convenience operates a Challenge 25 policy, backed by EPOS prompts showing acceptable forms of identification and common reasons for refusal. The system also provides the required date of birth, helping colleagues make accurate checks at the point of sale. Where there is a dispute over age, an AgeGatePro app provides additional support.
Behind the counter sits what Board calls the ‘Core Bible’ – a training and reference guide that colleagues can use to check the rules around different age-restricted products. Training is largely carried out in-house by Board himself, alongside training completed with Allwyn, the local authority, licensing authority and Post Office Limited.
He also uses his connections as a Scout leader to arrange test purchases with local teenagers, checking that colleagues are applying Challenge 25 correctly.
The store also takes its responsibilities beyond age verification. It follows Allwyn’s Healthy Play policy, provides vape-product recycling and uses a digitised system for compliance records, reducing paper use, storage and associated costs. Board says he keeps a close eye on regulatory developments through trade magazines because staying ahead of policy changes is about more than avoiding penalties: it protects colleagues, the business and the wider community.
There is an environmental strand too. The store recycles its waste and has installed a large solar array on the roof to reduce energy consumption, with further upgrades planned as it works towards net zero.
And responsibility, in Board’s view, extends to the people working in the shop. He deliberately calls them colleagues rather than staff and describes his aim as creating a happy, positive and flexible workplace where people feel valued and respected. The store’s low employee turnover, he says, is evidence that the approach is working.