Booker makes sustainability a priority as it celebrates 4,000 Premier stores

Booker has pledged its commitment to improving sustainability and technology across its Premier estate as it celebrates reaching 4,000 stores.

Premier Talbot Village is a 1,900sq ft store situated in Bournemouth, run by husband Arun Ehamparam and wife Tharsini Karunanithy. The site underwent a £170,000 revamp earlier this year. Since opening, just two weeks ago, sales have increased by £12,500 a week, from £17,500 to £30,000 with margin up by 22% to 28%.

The store is located directly next to the university campus and residential accommodation. Ahead of the refit, Booker conducted a survey with local residents asking them what they’d like to see from the new store, and improved sustainability and technology came out on top.

On a store visit held today, Booker’s sales director Martyn Parkinson told Better Retailing as a result, it was trialling a number of sustainable focused features at Talbot Village. He stressed that although this was the first time they had been rolled out, they were also available to existing retailers who wanted to introduce any element of them into their stores.

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They include in-store promotional deals accessed by QR codes instead of printed booklets, electronic shelf-edge labels, a refill station, the removal of single-use plastic bags for paper ones, solar panels and a self-checkout.

Parkinson said the introduction of electronic shelf-edge labels is already saving Arun 14 hours a week in labour costs. He added that fresh and chilled remains the quickest growing category across all Premier stores.

The range in Talbot Village store has been expanded from four metres to 14 metres, and is generating £4,000 a week in sales from the category, equating up to 13% of the store’s overall turnover. Parkinson revealed that a lot of retailers are concerned about investment in fresh and chilled due to wastage.

However, 85% of the category in store is long-life and lasts up to 20 days or more. The store owners receives three deliveries a week and is left with nearly zero wastage.

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All the fridges used throughout the store now are 35% more energy efficient. The 300sq ft beer cave has helped double alcohol sales in just two weeks. The investment for this feature alone costs £15,000 to £20,000, but Parkinson confirmed this will be paid for in three months if sales continue at the same rate.

The site also stocks over 400 own-label products, from both Jack’s and EuroShopper. When asked what the response to Jack’s has been like, Parkinson said: “It has been fantastic, and the reception to it has been above and beyond what we could’ve ever expected.”

Catering further to the demographic of university students, the store generates £250 a week on stationery, with a 75% margin, and houses a self-scan checkout operated by Retail Data Partnership, with 20% of customers using it for transactions.

Parkinson concluded that the wholesaler expects the £170,000 refit to be paid back between four to five months, if sales continue at the same rate.

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