What’s Billericay like as a retailer? I started my career here 13 years ago as a part-time level 10 partner on checkouts and worked my way up to deputy two years ago. Billericay is where my heart is. We’re a vibrant high street location and a real landmark in the town. Our customers are families, the older generation as well as office workers. Trade really picks up between 12 and 1pm, with people popping in for their sushi or rotisserie chickens – which we sell a lot of.
High streets are on the decline across the UK, but we are lucky that Billericay is really affluent and there’s no empty shops. We are part of the Business Improvement District, which means we reinvest a percentage of our rateable value into making the town great or hosting events like late night shopping.
You’re the biggest supermarket in town, but Aldi recently opened. Has that changed trade? We saw a slight decline for maybe 10 days when it opened in November – even I went to see what it was about! But our customers have stayed loyal. In terms of what a Waitrose store offers, it’s quite different to an Aldi, so the Billericay population are able to get the best of both worlds. It’s a growing town and we needed another major supermarket, so we’ve embraced it.
What’s changed most about shopper habits during your time with the store? It’s come with some of the on-demand delivery platforms. Billericay is on the train line from London. Increasingly we’re seeing people order via those platforms for when they get home, it’s pulled some footfall out of the shop.
Our shopper noted the recent change to layout. What impact has this had? We rebalanced our ambient aisles about two years ago. Customer feedback has been that it doesn’t flow quite as well. The first half of the shop is fantastic, but the last little bit could be a bit better. It’s being reviewed now.
How are you driving sales ahead of Mother’s Day? We’ve always turned up really strongly with our flowers. It’s the first impression customers get when they walk up to the front of our shop. We’ve also got some great offers including a third off our roast lines.
You’re set to welcome a new store manager. How will you help him settle? I’ve been running the store for the last four weeks after our previous branch manager Jim Brewin retired after 40 years, the last four of them here. Our new branch manager Marc Valace joined this week. It’s absolutely fantastic to be able to hand over on a high. We’ve been talking over the past couple of months about how we can make the store even better. Now during these first 90 days, the main focus for Marc is getting to know our team of 200 partners and customers better.
It’s JLP FY results this week. What is morale like across the business? The stores look really good at the moment. We’re turning up stronger for customers in terms of availability and through our offers. There’s also a greater presence from Waitrose on social media, so we shout about those offers much more clearly. Our new chairman Jason Tarry and our new MD Tom Denyard both come from a Tesco background. They’re so aligned with their thinking, and that message is coming down to shops. Rather than looking at 10 different things and trying to make it good, we’ve got a clear, streamlined approach on what we’re going after and how we want to turn up for our customers. We’re absolutely in it together!
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