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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

A convenience store in a small Devon town on the edge of Dartmoor, which had fallen into disrepair, has been given a complete makeover and re-opened as a modern SPAR store serving the local community. The former Solo Stores in Fore Street, Chudleigh has been acquired by SPAR store operator Gillett's (Callington) Limited and been the subject of a major refurbishment for several weeks. "We bought the store from a receiver," said Managing Director Mark Gillett. "It was formerly a Wilkies store but the premises had fallen into a state of disrepair over a number of years and we have totally refurbished it, starting with the very basics through to a comprehensive refit." The store was refurbished in a joint investment scheme with Appleby Westward, creating a new shop front, increasing the off licence range by 200%, introducing food-to-go and increasing the area for chilled products threefold. The chilled section is distinguished by all cabinets having retro fit energy-saving doors installed, creating a distinctive eye-catching effect along one whole aisle. "The store was fully merchandised, using the plans available from Appleby Westward," said Mark. "As we were starting with a complete new range, it did make life a lot easier and helped ensure we had the correct range for the shelving configurations within each section. "We are very positive about the store, and it has been exceedingly well received by the locals," he added. Gillett's purchased its first store in 1984 and has steadily grown with regular strategic acquisitions of businesses in rural locations. The company now operates 61 SPAR stores throughout the south west.

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.