A retailer is celebrating following positive feedback from customers after deciding to open a new store at the beginning of the coronavirus lockdown.

Dharsan Premkumar, who launched his Nisa Local store in Hull at the end of March, admitted he was anxious the move might prove catastrophic.

But instead, sales have grown, shoppers have been delighted with the expanded range, with plans now afoot to make further improvements to the 1,600 sq.ft store.

Speaking about opening a new c-store in an unfamiliar area, Mr Premkumar said: “When we took over the Covid-19 issues were just starting and it was a very nervous time.

“We expected there to be supply issues and we knew there would be some problems with stock, but we decided to press ahead and get the store ready and trading.”

The shop needed only a small refurbishment to convert it from a green Co-op fascia to Nisa’s latest Evolution store format, with new shelving and additional refrigeration.

An optimal Co-op own label range was introduced across ambient, fresh and frozen good, with the store now offering an improved food to go and hot food offers.

Customers also have access now to a newly installed coffee machine and a new chiller at the entrance housing the Co-op Meal Deal and other snacking.

The store had traded well as a Co-op and Dharsan had initial reservations about shopper perception once it took on the new fascia.

“We were quite wary we might lose sales initially, but they actually increased immediately,” he explained. “When we took over, the panic buying had started and the store was taking more than usual, but in our first few weeks we saw a further increase of more than 10%.”

Shopping habits have now started to return to more normal levels, the store continuing to enjoy strong sales with the average weekly turnover still higher than forecast.

“When we modelled our baseline, we thought there would be a loss initially of about 10% but instead we’ve had a 10% increase,” said Dharsan. “We’ll now be concentrating on our customers, getting them used to us and the store so they can see we are a great place to shop and even better than what they had before.”

The Nisa Local Hull shop is hoping to continue its strong promotions by offering competitive prices and keep customer loyalty with a Sainsbury’s Local just up the road.

“I think over time shoppers will see we have a better offer than them, better prices and what’s more, our store is a lot fresher and more modern,” Dharsan added.