At just 21, Arshpreet Singh has already packed several retail careers into a few years. His journey began in 2021, when he was still in sixth form and his family was looking for the right convenience business. Today, he runs a One Stop store in Gotherington, a growing Cotswold village, with a clear ambition to prove that a village shop can be far more than a place for top-up groceries.
The 1,200–1,400 sq ft store has become a community hub, combining Post Office services with homemade food-to-go, fresh fruit and vegetables, plants and compost, newspaper home deliveries and rapid grocery delivery.
Retail was not initially the career Singh had imagined. Although he came from a family of shopkeepers, he had no previous convenience experience when the family took on Gotherington Stores. He eventually reduced his time in sixth form to concentrate on the business, learning everything from compliance and stock management to accounting, HR, recruitment, Post Office operations, marketing and customer service on the job.
The early years were tough. Singh describes working days that stretched to 18 hours, while sales eventually plateaued. Rather than accepting the ceiling, he decided to step outside the store and learn from others.
For eight months, he travelled around the country visiting some of the UK's best convenience retailers, taking notes, learning from experienced operators and actively inviting criticism from symbol groups and industry experts. The experience changed his view of what the store could become.
That thinking ultimately led to the decision to convert to One Stop. At 20, Singh project-managed his first full refit alongside shopfitters and the One Stop team, using the transformation to introduce new technology, strengthen promotions, expand food-to-go, develop Snappy Shopper and build a new team.
He has also taken a notably hands-on approach to marketing. The store's Facebook following grew from zero to more than 2,000, helping promote new services, seasonal events and offers while keeping the business closely connected to the village. Community activity includes Christmas Santa events, support for village initiatives and continued investment in services that customers need.
That combination of learning and experimentation extends to the shop floor. Singh's approach to impulse retail is straightforward: put the right deal in the right place and make it difficult to miss. During the FIFA World Cup, he kept beer multipacks and promotional lines heavily stocked, used high-visibility positions for offers and linked chilled dips, crisps and sharing snacks to match-day missions. Impulse sales rose by around 20% during the period, helped by the football tournament and warm weather.
His next step is equally ambitious. Having gone from sixth-form student with no retail experience to running a thriving village business, Singh sees his current store as the beginning rather than the destination. His stated ambition is to keep pushing innovation and technology while showing what the next generation can bring to convenience retail.