For Jas and Michelle Chatha, the convenience store is only one part of the retail proposition. At Chathas Go Local Extra in Bradford, the couple have built a business around a simple idea: if customers want convenience, the store needs to make itself useful beyond its four walls.
The 2,700 sq ft store on Beacon Road sits between the Buttershaw and Wibsey estates and dates back to 1997, when the couple opened their first unit after spotting an empty shop while driving past a parade of five. Over time, they acquired the freehold parade and knocked three units together, creating the larger store it is today.
The Go Local Extra fascia provides the support of a symbol group while allowing the Chathas to retain the independence to respond to their local market. And respond they have. Alongside the store, the parade houses a hot-food morning café and a fast-food business serving evening customers, both of which help generate additional footfall for the shop.
A free 24-hour cash machine adds another reason for customers to visit.
Inside, the couple's approach to merchandising is rooted in understanding how people actually shop. Rather than treating impulse as a collection of products around the checkout, they use the entire store to create additional purchase opportunities. Tin openers sit close to tinned vegetables; mobile accessories are positioned near the tills; BBQ products move close to beers in summer.
The principle is simple: make the next purchase logical.
Promotional and seasonal displays are used to attract attention, while checkout areas carry smaller, high-margin products designed to capture those last-minute decisions. Staff are also trained to recommend products and highlight promotions, adding a human element to what could otherwise become purely transactional merchandising.
But perhaps the biggest change to the business has happened outside the store. The Chathas developed their own home delivery service, giving customers access to thousands of products from home. It has widened the store's reach and helped it serve busy families, elderly residents, people with limited mobility and customers simply looking for greater convenience.
The couple's roles are deliberately complementary. One concentrates on customer experience, merchandising, promotions and community relationships, while the other takes responsibility for technology, logistics, delivery and back-office systems. It is a practical version of divide and conquer, allowing decisions to be made quickly without duplicating effort.
Even their approach to working together is structured. They hold dedicated business meetings for strategy and finances and have introduced a 'shop talk' curfew after 9pm, giving them space to switch off from retail.
That balance matters because, for the Chathas, the business is ultimately about relationships. The store's familiar faces, personal service and delivery operation have helped turn a mid-sized convenience shop into a broader local service — one that continues to evolve without losing its independent character.