One Stop has passed the milestone of 50 franchised stores.

The 50th store in the programme is Tahir Mahmood’s store on Mosley Common Road, Boothstown, Manchester. Currently trading as Spar, the 1,400sq ft store will begin its transition to One Stop next month before re-opening as an enlarged and refitted 2,200sq ft store in early 2015.

The franchise programme rolled out at the end of January, having started with five trial stores in 2013. Of the 50 stores signed up, 26 are former symbol group operators with 24 previously unaffiliated. The majority are in northern or central England, although there are seven stores operating in the South and five in Wales.

One Stop franchise director Andrew King said: “We’re delighted to hit our first major milestone within eight months of launch. It’s clear that our franchise concept appeals to retailers across the board, as we have a fairly even split between previously unaffiliated independents and symbol retailers, and we have signed up stores from every group.

“We have an active pipeline in place for the future and are currently launching stores at the rate of two to three per week.”

Under the transition programme, a One Stop till is installed in the shop prior to the relaunch and the sales data used to build a new product range and regular order.

Franchisees are also given a development budget to refit their store, in return for a five-year contract including a franchise fee that can be paid weekly or upfront. Retailers keep ownership of the business, and retain the trading profits.

Tahir stated: “I considered a number of options, but the One Stop franchise was the one that stood out as the best. Everyone knows what a great brand it is, but it was also about how they intend to invest in my business and to work with me to grow my sales and margins - their retail knowledge was probably the clinching factor.”

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