CCEP spotlights retailers at parliamentary event

A Christmas parliamentary reception was held in the House of Commons on 13 December by Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) and attended by ACS board members, retailers and members of the pub industry.

While MP Steve McCabe, CCEP vice-president Julian Hunt, and ACS chief executive James Lowman highlighted the importance of convenience store retailers though community activities and Coca-Cola’s latest campaign, Sophie Williams, of Premier Broadway, Edinburgh, gave a speech on what her shop does to support her local area.

Kicking off the event, McCabe highlighted that convenience stores are “a classic example of a group of people who don’t get the credit they deserve”.

Highlighting the extent of the support the sector provides to communities, Lowman added that, in the last quarter, £330,000,000 was invested by retailers in communities across the UK.

“We talked to retailers about what they do in the community, and four in five engage in some form of community activity,” he said. “When times get tough and become economically challenging, that number goes up. [Investment in communities] is not something that retailers cut when times get tough.”

Lowman added that the closure of other high street services, such as banks, have really shown why convenience stores are so important, and “increasingly [ACS’] members are that one stop hub for everything”.

To close the event, Williams detailed the history behind her family’s “long-established” store in Edinburgh and discussed her mum’s “proud achievement” of establishing the Big Breakfast, which provides healthy breakfasts to local primary schools, as well as the shop’s extensive work for locals during the pandemic.

“We were open every single day, we provided free local deliveries to people who were self-isolating, travelling quite long distances in some cases,” Williams said. During the pandemic, the Premier Broadway raised £10,000 for Covid-related causes, and Linda Williams was awarded a Covid Hero accolade by the Queen for the achievement.

Williams added that the store has also raised £8,000 for a patient diagnosed with terminal cancer, and more recently £11,000 for a boy undergoing cancer treatment.

“We’ve received dozens of industry awards over the years, most recently, the very prestigious Raj Aggarwal Trophy, but that’s not why we do it,” she continued. “I’m sure every retailer can attest that it just becomes part of working life – just like doing the papers in the morning and putting the shutters down at night. It enriches our lives, and those of our friends and neighbours. And while perhaps we do a bit more than other stores I know that most convenience stores do at least some of these things.”

Hunt added that in recognising the “positive role” played by convenience and independent retailers, the CCEP offered convenience retailers the chance to win a share of £30,000 through the month of November, through The World Needs More Santas campaign which provides money to people in their communities.

“[With this] they could invest in activities that are very important to them and to their customers in their neighbourhoods, whether it’s providing support to the homeless at Christmas or other community initiatives,” he said.