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Isle of Wight SPAR stores operator, Hunnyhill Stores Group, has been fundraising again for a local good cause on the island. Last year, the company raised more than £4,500 for the Donkey Sanctuary in Wroxall as a result of its role as major sponsor of a music festival on the Isle of Wight. Now, the company has begun a fundraising programme for the Ventnor Paddling Pool Fund after funding was withdrawn by the Isle of Wight Council, responsibility for which has now been taken over by the town council. The programme started with a Pancake Day event at its Victoria Street, Ventnor store, involving a race and pancake tossing with the chance for customers to win SPAR vouchers. All profits will go towards the paddling pool fund. The Ventnor store is one of 13 operated by the company throughout the island. Hunnyhill opened its first store on the Isle of Wight in 2000 and has been instrumental in providing a major boost to the SPAR brand there ever since. It has other stores in East Cowes, Lake, Newport, Ryde, Sandown, Wootton, and Wroxall and employs more than 120 people throughout the island. In this corner: Two Managers From Appleby Westward Group Limited Present To Students At Plymouth City College Refurbished From Top To Bottom. A New SPAR Store Opens In Yetminster Store Re Opens in Boscastle

SPAR stores taking part in a new merchandising programme instigated by Appleby Westward have already seen a positive impact on sales. One store in the Cornwall area run by Gordon and Karen Green has enjoyed an uplift in weekly sales. Before the project took place weekly sales in store were £8,677 and an uplift of 29% now see's last week's sales at £11,236 respectively, while Howard Toms' store in Southsea, Portsmouth has seen a sales boost of 11% and 6.6% year on year. Head of Sales Vince Brown said the merchandising programme was taking part in 32 nominated stores throughout the region until the end of this year. "Appleby Westward is more than simply a delivered wholesaler - we are partners in growth with our retailers," he said. "Our added services like merchandising are designed to help grow their businesses." Appleby Westward has been focussing considerable effort on space planning, regularly updating its suite of planograms to make sure its stores have the best range and opportunity in the convenience marketplace. Regional sales managers discussed the project and the benefits of implementing planograms with their stores. As a result, they nominated 32 shops where they believed significant benefits could be achieved by reviewing the amount of space allocated to products and their location on the fixtures. "As well as creating extra sales, it was felt the stores would also achieve improvements to range and choice, availability, shop standards and overall customer perception," said Vince. "At the same time, it would allow them the opportunity for better stock management." Nominated retailers are being visited by merchandising team Helen Holmes, Becky Tremain and Christina Smith, who identify the opportunity to de-list slow sellers in preparation to review the space and implement the planograms.

Geoffrey Cox, MP for Torridge and West Devon, cut the ribbon to officially open a newly redeveloped SPAR store and Post Office in Tavistock. The store, in Abbey Place, has been the subject of a redevelopment in order to accommodate an expanded Post Office service within the retail area. The Post Office has introduced a Combi Counter, installed alongside the SPAR tills, enabling staff to serve both retail and Post Office transactions. Extended opening hours from 7.00am-10.00pm, plus the ability to use the service on a Saturday afternoon and Sunday, mean customers will be able to enjoy extended Post Office services. Customers can buy stamps and other everyday postal items if the Post Office is closed. For more info go visit: Appleby Westward Group Limited

Students at City College Plymouth have been full of praise after two managers from Appleby Westward gave them an insight into the role of an in store merchandiser. Vince Brown and Dave Kennington gave a workshop and presentation on merchandising to students. The students are studying for an extended diploma in business and focussing on the psychology of visual merchandising. Vince and Dave outlined various plans of store layouts and explained how and why products are displayed in store. Student feedback was positive afterwards, with every candidate rating the presentation four or five out of a maximum of five points. Sara Harvey, Workspace Co-ordinator at the college, said: "Students were also asked to score how well the workshop was delivered, and each student scored this as a five, which is a fantastic result." Students were also complimentary about the detail and quality of the presentation, as well as the way questions were answered. Sara added: "Employer talks really help to enrich the learning experience of our students and enable them to understand the realities of what is involved in a particular sector. We were grateful for Appleby Westward's interest and look forward to working with the company again in the future." TESTIMONIALS "As total newcomers to the world of retail, my husband and I felt in total chaos. We had immediately chosen to change the store from a Londis to SPAR as we thought that SPAR better resembled the type of business we wanted to be and we have never regretted the decision." "The whole SPAR team were fantastic. They gave us tremendous support and were always available to help answer our many queries. Our regional sales manager was superb and we received great positive feedback fr

Appleby Westward Group Limited Paris distribution - A Portsmouth SPAR store has won prizes in separate promotions run by two major consumer brands. The store, in Queen Street, which is owned and run by the Sattari family, won the award for best display in a 'Celebrate The Summer' promotion run by Carlsberg. Reece Sattari, who runs the 2,500 sq. ft. neighbourhood value store, is pictured here receiving an iPad2 from Sean Keenan (right) and Darren Harper, both from Carlsberg. Reece also collected £50 worth of Love2shop vouchers from Wall's after taking part in a retailer incentive scheme run by the ice cream manufacturers. The store won the vouchers after being one of the first SPAR retailers to send in photographs of the maxivision freezer unit featuring new themed point of sale displays. Queen Street is one of five SPAR stores run by the Sattari family in Portsmouth, Emsworth and Southsea.