How to prepare your store for summer

We get a lot busier in summer and have to prepare for that. How are other retailers getting ready?

Fiona Malone, Tenby Stores & Post Office, Pembrokeshire

Amandeep Singh, Singh’s Convenience Store Premier, Barnsley, South Yorkshire

“We’ve ordered the toys and things like that for the summer, which we do every year. Products such as buckets and spades, water balloons and water pistols, and footballs all sell really well, so we make sure to preorder them. These summer toys have 40% margins, which makes a huge difference.

“We’re not going to do too much more than that right now because the market is just too volatile. We’re going to keep it simple. We generally stock up in the summer, particularly when it comes to alcohol like beers, ciders and multipacks, and I’ve got a very good relationship with my depot manager. So, that means if we need an extra delivery at very short notice, then we can still get it. That will be important when the Euros are happening because the longer England stay in, the more interest there is and the more alcohol sales you can make. It all goes hand in hand.”

Meten Lakhani, St Mary’s Supermarket, Southampton

“We’ve just got another freezer in and we’re increasing our ice cream range. We’ve cut back the space for news, magazines and stationery, and now we’ve got more space for ice cream – multipacks and tubs – and multipacks of soft drinks as well. We’re increasing the range of soft drinks we offer in 10-packs and sixpacks. It used to just be Coca-Cola, but now we’re introducing Lilt, Fanta and Sprite.

“We’re doing these things for summer to take advantage of the increased demand, but we’ll keep the freezers and the soft drinks there permanently afterwards. Students like things such as Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s. There’s much more margin in ice cream than in newspapers.

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“I think the Euros will be good. We’ll get some in-store theatre in place for that. We’ll get displays from the suppliers and we’ll do competitions where people can win a football.”

Nathan Whiteside, One Stop Cefndy Road, Rhyl, Denbighshire

“We’ve got a holiday park down the road from one of our stores, so we see a huge increase in demand. One Stop does a summer deal where you can increase your minimum order lines for popular beers and soft drinks. That works really well for us. It’s only an extra case or two each delivery, but it makes a huge difference. We don’t need to hold back much stock, but we’ve got a shipping container in our yard, so things can be stored there.

“We’ve brought the slushie machine down from storage above the shop and the ice cream freezers are already out. It’s not worth having it in the winter because the electrics cost us £7 a day. It sits in our extra gondola end, which is on wheels.

“For the football, you’ve got to get the beers in. We always get pint glasses for all the supporters so we can give them a glass when they buy a multipack. We try to get as many different varieties in and that seems to make people happier.”

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