Andrew Howell, Loch Lomond News, Balloch, West Dunbartonshire

“Pester power is very important. But it’s also important to cater for all age groups of the family: having products for parents and for their kids. So, if a parent wants to buy a vape and their children are pestering them for trading cards or sweets, they’ll come to us where they can get both at the same time rather than having to go to two different shops, which boosts our basket spend.

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“We’re not near a school, so parents have to travel specifically to come to us. But we’ve built up a reputation over time for our collectables, so they’ll still come to us, especially on a Friday afternoon. If the kids have been good that week, they’ll come in and get a pack of stickers or trading cards. We’ve had customers travel 400 miles for our Pokémon cards. For younger children, trading cards are about movies and games, but once you get to secondary school, it’s all football and other sports cards.”

Matthew Hunt, Filco Supermarkets, South Wales

“It’s difficult with catering to kids. You want to attract them, but that stuff can often put parents off. Parents will actively avoid those ride-on machines, for example. You’ve got to make it as easy as possible for the parents to shop and spend money when they’re with their kids.

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“We have shopping trolleys with padded seats and all the bells and whistles so the parents can do their shopping without their kids screaming and shouting. After all, it’s the parents who are in control of the purse strings. They’re the ones making the decisions – so, help them out. Even if it’s just giving the children a free piece of fruit to eat during the shop. When I had young kids, if a store helped me out and made shopping easier for me, it made me enamoured with that store. It’s not just about offering products for parents and children, it’s also about making the experience as pleasant as possible.”

Anila Ali, Ali’s Convenience Store, Tranent, East Lothian

“We had a refit last year, and we have a dedicated refresh area for kids and parents. It’s got Tango Ice Blast, Costa Coffee and frozen milkshake machines. We have a patisserie with sweet and savoury baked goods from Stephen’s Bakery in Falkirk. The iced doughnuts are very popular with the kids. We’ve extended our sweets range as well. Bobby’s lines are popular, so we’ve added more of them to the shelves. Kids have around £1.50 to spend and Bobby’s is well known, so it works. We keep changing the stock as well so there’s always something fresh. We’ve got lots of popcorn varieties for the big night in and freeze-dried sweets from TikTok. We have to keep up with the times.

“We have a beer cave now, so all the alcohol is tucked away from the children, and we’ve been pleasantly surprised. Since the refit, the shop is also more accessible to parents with pushchairs and they can now move around the shop comfortably.”

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