Six months into 2010 Budgens reports that, on average, a new store has opened every month under the Budgens fascia, as independent retailers make Budgens their partner of choice to drive their businesses forward in these tough economic times. The new sites include Ruislip, Bexhill, Bruton, Burwell, Didcot and Wilton.
Existing Budgens retailers have bought the three stores in Ruislip, Bexhill and Bruton, reinforcing their belief in the Budgens brand. Ruislip is Visanathan Yoganathan’s sixth store with Budgens. Jeremy Symonds, who bought the store in Bruton, already owns another Budgens as well as three Londis sites and Bexhill is Raj and Shanti Selvarajah’s third Budgens store.
The Manchett family’s expertise, on the other hand, is in the motor trade, and they chose to enter the convenience retail sector with Budgens as their retail partner when they opened Budgens Burwell.
John Mason’s new company Peregrine Retail has opened two new Budgens sites in as many months in Didcot and Wilton.
Some of the store openings weren’t without physical challenges. For example, the Bexhill store, previously a lighting shop, proved a particular challenge for the Budgens store development team, faced with a site that was not only in an English heritage area but virtually on a split level. The new store in the English seaside town is now forecast to take £25,000 a week, from a standing start. The Didcot store also started trading from a standing start having previously been a cycling shop. Sales in the first week of trading topped £28,000, far exceeding the predicted £22,000.
