We spoke to Bal Singh exactly a year to the day since builders moved in to refit the Nisa Local he runs with his brother Jag in Birmingham, and got an update on how his business has been progressing…

How’s business been since last year?

The refit has been a huge success. We’ve seen sales up by 15-20% in all areas and they’ve never dropped below that level.

Is the store refit still living up to its promise?

People are still coming into the store and saying they didn’t know we’d had a refit. It is still getting positive feedback and we’ve been nicknamed the mini-Waitrose of Great Barr.

What areas are doing particularly well?

Chilled is a really big area for us and we almost doubled the size of that section. We’ve got more range, more promotions and our fresh area is bigger, too. Nisa has been great and its promotions have been superb. Some of our offers even surpass the multiples.

What else have you introduced as part of the refit?

We used to have an internal ATM, which we have now moved to outside the store. This has been a huge success for us. It is available 24 hours a day and creates footfall of between 8,500 and 9,000 people a month.

What’s next for the store?

We’re looking at a coffee machine and other food-to-go. We’re also looking at opening a bit earlier.