Stilton store redesign leads to sales boost 

Altering the L-shaped premises into a rectangle is working wonders for a neighbourhood convenience store in the village of Stilton, Cambridgeshire.

The redesign allowed retailer Siva Thievanayagam to make huge improvements in key categories, as the store size has almost doubed from 1,500 sq ft to just under 3,000 sq ft.

The chilled and off licence categories have benefited in particular from the re-fit completed just ahead of Christmas.

The store – housed in a listed building- was officially launched at the end of January with a community opening attended by a local councillor and in-store tastings from suppliers.

“It’s early days, but there’s definitely been an increase sales-wise,” said Sudakaran Selvaraj, operations manager at TYS Retail Ltd which is owned by Thievanayagam and runs a series of stores in Peterborough.

“We’re doing much better than the same time last January, and we expect this growth to keep going into the spring and summer. We can see that, with the changes in our ordering frequency, we’re performing a lot better.”

The new look Stilton store now boasts 20 chilled bays, up from 11, plus a deli counter and the space available for chilled alcohol has doubled.

Food to go has stepped up a level with a much-improved offer in a more visible location. Storage space has also been converted to create a food preparation and bakery area and daily operations have been optimised by increasing the size internally.