At Belle Vue Stores, responsible retailing is treated less as a compliance exercise and more as part of the store’s everyday culture.
Bay Bashir is director of the second-generation family business, which has traded for 28 years on a major road in the Middlesbrough area. The 750sq ft Go Local Extra store sits beside several schools and a major trauma hospital, generating a mix of passing trade and local community business.
That location makes responsible selling particularly important. Belle Vue carries a broad convenience offer including alcohol, tobacco and vapes, lottery products, grocery, chilled and frozen food, confectionery, household and pet products, top-up services and newspapers.
Bashir says the store’s approach is founded on protecting customers and supporting the community while maintaining full compliance with licensing laws and industry standards.
At the heart of that is a strict Challenge 25 policy. The policy is clearly displayed in-store and consistently enforced, while regular refresher training and team briefings reinforce the importance of preventing underage sales and encouraging responsible purchasing behaviour.
Rather than leaving responsibility solely with management, staff are encouraged to take ownership of compliance and to make safe decisions on the shop floor.
Training is structured around age-restricted sales, customer interaction and refusal procedures, with the aim of ensuring every team member is confident about applying the store’s policies. Responsible retailing is also a regular topic in team meetings, where colleagues can raise concerns or suggest improvements.
For Bashir, however, the responsibility does not stop at the store entrance. One of Belle Vue’s more distinctive initiatives is its Christmas carrier-bag campaign, which uses the bags to carry public safety messages. One side features ‘Don’t Drink and Drive’, while another reminds customers to ‘Think About the Morning After’, highlighting the risks of driving while still under the influence.
It is a small intervention, but one that reflects Bashir’s wider philosophy.
The retailer says the relationship with the local community has been built over years through trust and dedicated service. That means investing significant time in training and age-awareness initiatives and working with local authorities and following best-practice guidance to keep procedures effective and up to date.
There is also a clear emphasis on consistency. Policies are visible, communication with staff is open and responsible retailing is embedded into the way the store operates rather than treated as an occasional campaign.
The result is a compact convenience store where responsible retailing has become part of the operating rhythm – from Challenge 25 and structured training to a Christmas carrier bag that carries a message beyond the shop.
For Bashir, that is what being a responsible retailer means: protecting customers, supporting colleagues and recognising that a convenience store has a role to play in the community it serves.