Ten years is a long time to stay at one store, but Paul Bennett has a lot to keep him on his toes. His Tesco store in Folkestone is opposite an army barracks and the nearest to the Eurostar terminal. Combined with coastal tourists and a growing local community it gives him a diverse mix of customers.
Fresh from taking the crown in this week’s Super 33 mystery shop in Folkestone and Hythe, Bennett sits down to talk about his unique customer base, World cup trade and beating the competition.
What’s it like to be a retailer in Folkestone? I’ve been here for 10 years. It’s a nice part of the world to live in. My core customer base is split between low affluence and mid affluence. It’s predominantly family orientated, and generations of the same family will shop here, often at the same time. The Royal Gurkha Rifles are stationed opposite and we have a major Nepalese community in Folkestone. There’s huge council offices just up the road. Saga is one of the major employers in the town and we benefit from that trade as well.
How do you cater to your Nepalese shoppers? We had a remodel a year ago and expanded our ethnic and Asian food range. Generally speaking, they do a lot of scratch cooking and eat a lot of seafood, so we make sure to range a lot of fish. We’ll also tailor our promotions to suit.
How does your proximity to the coast and Eurostar affect trade? We’re not classed as a coastal shop by the business, so we don’t get the same allocation in terms of some of the beachwear and beach range. But people will stop by on their way to and from the beach. My garage is the closest to the Eurostar, so it’s extremely busy. People will often come to us to buy a lot of the items they can’t get abroad, like Bovril and corn flakes – even to the point where we’ll get bulk orders that people will collect on their way through.
It was a Super Grocer 33 this week. How do you stand out from the competition locally? We’ve got everything nearby, so we have to be really switched on to whatever the competition are doing differently. We’re just out of town so we’re more of a destination. But it’s the toughest environment in terms of competition that I’ve experienced in my 35 years in retail.
What else changed during the recent remodel? It was a complete remodel in terms of spec and new fridges. Bakery moved from the back of shop to the front and we opened our snacking offer massively. You can now get your Costa Coffee, fruit, drink, snacking chocolate and sandwiches all within the first 10 ft of the shop, which is really good. We’ve got 240 colleagues and they’ve done well to deliver this. Customers have stayed with us and we’re continuing to deliver a really good shopping trip.
How did the overnight kick-off change shopping habits compared with other England games during the World Cup? It was another warm weekend, so trade got mixed up with the general weekend shop. Sunny weather and football are the perfect storm for retail. It’s been a buzzy period. Has it always been easy? No, but it’s mega from a trade perspective.
How do you see Folkestone changing moving forward? Folkestone is growing massively, with lots of new houses being built here and we have to make sure we gain their loyalty – there’s lots to play for!
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