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Kersheaup Vagadia: Updating, renewing, winning

2024’s Symbol Retailer of the Year, Kersheaup Vagadia, has proven that with local knowledge and a hot food revolution, convenience can beat off any competitor

Kersheaup Vagadia with his mother Vanita Vagadia

Kersheaup Vagadia (L) with his mother Vanita Vagadia

Stand at the entrance of the Costcutter store in Kearsley, Bolton, on any Tuesday morning, and you'll witness something remarkable: a stream of builders queuing for Carrs Pasties, elderly customers picking up their newspapers, and office workers grabbing Co-op sandwiches – all moving through the space with the easy familiarity of a well-choreographed dance.

Kersheaup Vagadia, the 32-year-old entrepreneur who transformed this 1,800 square foot store from declining sales into a case study in retail excellence, has been named Symbol Retailer of the Year at the 2024 Asian Trader Awards. It's his second consecutive win – he took home the Next Gen Award in 2023 – and he's been shortlisted for the top prize, Asian Trader of the Year, at the 2025 awards in November.


But to Kersheaup, the trophies are milestones, not endpoints. “We’ve not just left it stagnant and trading a flat line,” he says. “The store sales have continued to increase. Bestway Retail has supported us to keep developing the store, not just maintaining it.”

A family legacy reinvented

Retail runs deep in the Vagadia family. Kersheaup’s parents moved from London to Bolton in the 1990s to buy a small corner shop. His father, Shashi, passed away in 2000, when Kersheaup was only seven, leaving behind both a business and a legacy of community connection.

For a while, his uncle, Govind Naran, took charge – an experienced retailer who runs several convenience stores across Greater Manchester. But the pull of retail proved irresistible. When the brothers came of age, Kersheaup and his brother Nilesh decided to reclaim the family shop rather than follow other career paths. “We wanted to do something different, but in the end we chose to continue the family business,” he recalls.

They took back the store in 2015, determined to modernise and grow. Nilesh now runs their online business, Exclusive Deals Ltd, operating from an 18,000 sq. ft. warehouse, while Kersheaup focuses on the retail stores.

Bold refit, dual branding

Two years ago, Kersheaup faced a problem. Sales were declining year on year despite the store's prime location on Manchester Road, connecting Manchester and Bolton. A Tesco Express sat right next door. The competition was fierce, and the market was changing.

His response? A complete rebuild from scratch.

“We decided to go all out,” he recalls. The £250,000 investment included dual-branding with Bargain Booze – a ‘store within a store’ concept that Costcutter was just beginning to trial. They were the fourth store to adopt this innovation.

Costcutter store in Kearsley, Bolton Kersheaup Vagadia's dual brand Costcutter - Bargain Booze store in Kearsley, Bolton

The results exceeded even their optimistic projections. Footfall jumped 30 per cent to 3,200 customers per week. Average basket spend increased by £2.20 to £6.75. Total gross retail turnover for the 12 months ending March 2024 jumped by a staggering 39 per cent.

But here's the twist: the success wasn't about the money spent. It was about the intelligence applied.

Hot food revolution

Before the refit, hot food sales limped along at £150 per week. Today? They're touching £1,500 weekly. It's the store's most profitable department.

“The main thing I would say is hot food,” Kersheaup says when asked about the single most impactful change. “We didn't have much hot food offering in the previous store. That alone has been the biggest margin increase, and it’s made the overall store more profitable.”

The secret lies in local knowledge. Sixty to seventy per cent of hot food sales come from one product: Carrs Pasties, a well-known Bolton supplier. “The pasty is not cheap. It's a high-quality product, and hence it's a high price, but people in the area know about the brand, and we sell a lot of volume through that.”

They've partnered with Country Choice for the full hot food-to-go range – breakfast menus in the morning, curly fries in the afternoon and evening. The menu changes throughout the day, matching the rhythm of customer missions. Those builders at lunchtime? They're not buying breakfast baps.

The Co-op advantage

Walk into the store and you'll notice something: Co-op Own Brand products dominate the shelves. It's a deliberate strategy, and one that differentiates them from the Tesco Express next door.

“When we did the refurb, we reviewed each of their categories and looked against our Costcutter planograms,” Kersheaup explains. “We noticed that they were focusing more on the branded products and not their own own-brand, whereas we've put the focus more on the Co-op own brand products.”

The timing couldn't be better. During the cost-of-living crisis, customers discovered that Co-op products offered quality at nearly half the price of branded alternatives. “We've had many customers say our Co-op bread is better quality than the Tesco own brand,” he notes.

The Co-op range now accounts for 30 to 40 per cent of products sold. Fresh and chilled sales have tripled. The ready meal and fresh meat department alone has seen a 280 per cent increase. When Bestway Retail recently renewed their contract with Co-op – with promises of even better service levels – it was brilliant news for the store.

“Nick Russell (Head of Symbol at Bestway Retail) contacted me and notified me about the Co-op extended contract,” Kersheaup says. “It's not just an extension to carry on, but the service will be getting better.”

It’s not easy being a small independent trading alongside a national chain. Yet, Kersheaup’s store has turned proximity into an advantage.

He introduced a Costcutter loyalty card, giving him the flexibility to reward customers and run promotions that Tesco can’t match. “We can do double points on weekends or triple points on certain products,” he says. “We even ran a campaign outside saying ‘cheaper than Tesco’. We’ve kept those prices lower.”

Community roots

His team of long-serving local staff adds to the difference. “Some of them have been here over 25 years. Our store has very good customer service compared to Tesco Express and all our staff are locally based as well.”

That community-first approach extends beyond the shop floor. Growing up around the shop, Kersheaup learned something fundamental: “The relationship you have with your local customers is what makes the difference with a store.” His parents knew every customer by name – and their children too.

That community engagement continues today. They fund raffles for local schools during Christmas, providing donated prizes. When a local church needed roof repairs but lacked funding, they provided bedding plants to sell as fundraisers. Three local councillors attended the store's reopening after the refit, landing coverage in the local newspaper.

Tech as a silent partner

Kersheaup is quick to recognise that his store’s success also rests on the smart use of technology. “Technology halves the workload,” he says matter-of-factly.

The store uses Active C-Pos for live data on sales, margins, and customer counts, with automatic ordering capabilities. They've installed an electronic cigarette gantry from Navarra Retail Systems to control high-value stock and prevent theft. Ordering technology tracks inventory in their off-site 3,000 square foot warehouse.

But the most dramatic intervention involved artificial intelligence. After the refit, with new tall aisles creating blind spots, theft levels were climbing. Traditional CCTV wasn't fast enough.

Enter Veesion AI, a system that automatically detects shoplifting – someone putting items in their pocket or bag – and alerts staff within 30 seconds. The results were immediate and stark: “From that we made our theft levels virtually back to zero.”

They ran the system for one year. “While we were catching all the criminals and the thieves, they themselves knew not to come back to this store,” Kersheaup explains. Theft levels remain under control even after discontinuing the paid service. Word travelled fast.

Power of partnership

Being part of Bestway Retail has been a cornerstone of the store’s progress. Kersheaup’s family joined Costcutter in 2001 – and has never looked back.

“They've kept us up to date with market research and how the customers are on a national level and a local level. They've looked at the trends and they've told us how to implement those trends and changes in-store and what a typical shopper needs nowadays on a regular basis, and the store has been adapted that way,” he says.

The personal support from his Business Development Manager, Ash Rabone, is something Kersheaup values highly. “He's on hand seven days a week by phone,” Kersheaup says.

They review high-performing and underperforming categories together, strategising improvements. When special seven-day deals come up – particularly on beers and multipacks – Rabone sends WhatsApp alerts. If Kersheaup's too busy to log in and order, Rabone handles it himself.

“So it saves me time in some places,” Kersheaup notes with characteristic understatement.

The relationship exemplifies his philosophy about symbol group partnerships. “The retailer should be looking at the overall service, from deliveries to the engagement of the BDM to the overall service that the symbol group offers,” he advises. “It's not just solely on the price or competitiveness of the cost of goods delivered.”

His advice to other retailers considering a symbol partnership is simple: “Take full advantage of the support that’s offered. It’s always free and worth trying – otherwise you’ll never know what you missed.”

The next chapter

Despite the rising costs – national insurance contributions and other budgetary pressures – Kersheaup remains on track to recoup the £250,000 investment within 2.5 years. But he's not stopping there.

They're planning an extension and refurbishment of their second Bolton store, currently delayed by planning permissions. “We're hoping that the planning stage is completed by the end of this year,” he says. They aim to begin construction and refurbishment next year.

The new store will trial additional suppliers and categories – toys and American products – that require more space than currently available. It will remain a Costcutter, leveraging the lessons learned from Kearsley.

Looking five years ahead, Kersheaup envisions multiple stores. But growth requires something specific: operational efficiency, and this is an area where he would like more support from his symbol group. “Probably provide a little bit more support on operations for the store, so it can help us effectively run the store day to day, so we can concentrate on growing to a large number of multiple stores.”

His brother, Nilesh, focuses on their online business, Exclusive Deals Limited, which sells office products, health & beauty, DIY & tools, toys & games and luxurious bedding supplies. Kersheaup concentrates on both physical stores, applying the formula that's proven so successful.

The essence of success

If there’s a single thread running through Kersheaup’s story, it’s the balance of tradition and transformation. He has modernised his family’s business without losing its soul.

His hot food counter may use digital ordering systems, and his shelves may be algorithmically optimised for shopper flow, but the core ethos – service, community, and consistency – is old-fashioned in the best sense.

“The motivation is the customers,” he says simply. “If the customers exit the store with a smile on their face, I know I've done my job, and also I will know that he or she will come back at a later date to the store as they were happy with the service.”

And as the awards season looms once again, it’s clear that whatever the outcome in November, Kersheaup Vagadia has already built something far more lasting than a trophy: a blueprint for how the next generation of independents can thrive.