Winning Small Convenience Store of the Year requires a business to stand out from the competition, and over the past 12 months, Priyesh Vekaria and the team at One Stop Carlton Convenience has worked hard to do just that.
The key initiative the team developed was late-night opening, which went live in February 2024. It was trialled to see whether it would be profitable as the team wanted to support members of the community who may work shifts or can’t get to stores during the day. These include hospital staff nearby, or emergency workers.
The new operating schedule includes Thursday to Sunday, with extended hours from 7am to 2am, and they’ve seen a huge uplift in sales and revenue per week as well as an increase in home delivery services. With a clear trend continuing to shift towards digital and remote purchasing, the staff has also expanded their reach through partnerships with major online delivery platforms including Deliveroo, Just Eat, and Uber Eats.
Other innovations include ‘Lush Slush’ by Professor Slush’, or Priyesh as he’s sometimes known, is slush for adults (with the addition of alcohol and some non-alcoholic versions). It was only meant for very local customers but thanks to the power of social media, trending viral sites sharing (including Boohoo and Pretty Little Thing), they received national press coverage and word spread. They then went on to add liquid nitrogen into some of them, so they looked like something from an alchemist, rather than a local shop. The team tries to create innovative standout in digital marketing including social media (mainly Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok) to reach new audiences. These also include rolling digital promotion screens instore, as one of their USPs is supplying newly trending products to the community.
The store team pioneered the concept of creating its own QR code for delivery services and to promote the service in a ‘click’. They vinyl wrapped their delivery vehicle with the QR code, so during deliveries people just take a picture, which gets them straight onto the delivery page. The team at One Stop Carlton Convenience assist multiple charities, initiatives, and individuals and Priyesh says is why he changed career to local retailing so he can help make a difference on a grassroots level. Projects include: funding a community defibrillator; a bleed trauma kit; community outreach in which they provide homeless outreach two nights a week to a Manchester homeless group; donating around 200 meals a week and also paid for the vinyl branding of ‘Mozza’s’ homeless outreach van.
As well as helping others, the staff remain supported on the journey. Priyesh prioritises his team’s mental health and wellbeing because asking for extra commitment during busier times can impact them and their families. He makes sure they have breaks, sufficient time off and do things for their own self care and wellbeing. “We are so focused on this we are currently looking at healthcare packages for the team, which would include their families, covering medical and dental etc. You get this as a package in the corporate world so we wanted to introduce it to convenience retail.”
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