Denis Jordan's philosophy of selling goods as he would like to buy them at fair prices and accompanied by good service is probably the reason why he is still running his own store, D&J Jordan, after 30 years.
Jordan's philosophy for his 2,500 sq ft village grocery store in Trimdon in County Durham is an unusual one: "I take no notice of recommended retail prices. I just work out what I paid for them and then decide what price to sell them. I give the best price possible for an independent man I don't want to rob my customers," says Jordan.
Jordan credits his suppliers for enabling him to keep prices down.
He visits Batley's Cash & Carry in Stockton, where he buys the majority of his stock, three times a week and says its prices allow him to be competitive.
He is also complimentary about his local suppliers of fruit and vegetables, meat, bread and frozen foods namely Holcrosts, H Coats, Taylors the Bakers and Eden Farm.
Customer service is particularly important in a village with a population of under 5,000. Most villagers shop at the supermarkets in nearby Hartlepool and Durham, says Jordan, and just use his store to top up on groceries, but he says quite a few still buy all their weekly supplies from his store.
Many of those customers are attracted by his free home delivery service, which takes about 50 to 60 orders a week.
Jordan is fortunate in that he does not suffer from crime, which is the bane of many retailers' lives, nor is recruitment a problem because his two full-time staff have worked with him for 25 years.
But he is concerned that the minimum wage may rise above £5 an hour, which would require him to dig deep to afford it. He has also been badly affected by smuggled cigarettes. He estimates bootlegging has cost him about £1,000 a week in lost cigarette sales out of an overall average weekly turnover of £12,000. "The government should reduce tobacco duties in line with the rest of Europe," says Jordan.
However he is in a better position than most to influence change. Trimdon is in Tony Blair's constituency and the prime minister has a house in the village.
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Jordan's philosophy for his 2,500 sq ft village grocery store in Trimdon in County Durham is an unusual one: "I take no notice of recommended retail prices. I just work out what I paid for them and then decide what price to sell them. I give the best price possible for an independent man I don't want to rob my customers," says Jordan.
Jordan credits his suppliers for enabling him to keep prices down.
He visits Batley's Cash & Carry in Stockton, where he buys the majority of his stock, three times a week and says its prices allow him to be competitive.
He is also complimentary about his local suppliers of fruit and vegetables, meat, bread and frozen foods namely Holcrosts, H Coats, Taylors the Bakers and Eden Farm.
Customer service is particularly important in a village with a population of under 5,000. Most villagers shop at the supermarkets in nearby Hartlepool and Durham, says Jordan, and just use his store to top up on groceries, but he says quite a few still buy all their weekly supplies from his store.
Many of those customers are attracted by his free home delivery service, which takes about 50 to 60 orders a week.
Jordan is fortunate in that he does not suffer from crime, which is the bane of many retailers' lives, nor is recruitment a problem because his two full-time staff have worked with him for 25 years.
But he is concerned that the minimum wage may rise above £5 an hour, which would require him to dig deep to afford it. He has also been badly affected by smuggled cigarettes. He estimates bootlegging has cost him about £1,000 a week in lost cigarette sales out of an overall average weekly turnover of £12,000. "The government should reduce tobacco duties in line with the rest of Europe," says Jordan.
However he is in a better position than most to influence change. Trimdon is in Tony Blair's constituency and the prime minister has a house in the village.
{{INDEPENDENTS }}
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