RN in America How this Pennsylvania-based forecourt became a leader in made-to-order food STORE TOUR (PART 1 OF 5) Page 6 » RETAIL NEWS THAT MATTERS ● betterRetailing.com ● 02.11.2018 RN EXCLUSIVE How to spend £13,636 on your shop ● Top UK independent retailers share 2019 investment plans ● Lenders reveal why indies are asking for bigger loans Page 4 & 18 » BUSINESS RATES SYMBOLS NEWS & MAGS Tax relief Mixed Publisher for indies results for abandons by April Shopper newsagent 2019 First fascia plans Autumn budget Success of Vol 129 No 44 £2.50 Monocle admits FOR TRADE USE ONLY promises average Costcutter’s scheme 44 UK Kioskafe model £8,000 saving per limited to specific is “not suitable for property Page 3 » store types Page 5 » franchising” Page 10 » 2 betterRetailing.com // 2 November 2018 RN CONTENTS Shaping the future of independent retail WELCOME since 1889 Follow on Follow RN hen we asked shop owners this week what Facebook on twitter they would do with nearly £14,000, their an- f swers put mine to shame. While my response facebook.com/ThisisRN @ThisisRN for expert advice to W to have your say on the latest news help you grow your sales involved flip flops, sangria and a flight, theirs revealed Editor - news a glut of great ideas for other shop owners to follow, the best of which you can discover on page 18. Email & Visit the Jack Courtez @JackCourtez One retailer this week said store investment sits in phone RN website 020 7689 3371 a paradox, where upgrading your store has become in- email [email protected] www.betterretailing.com/RN creasingly necessary, but also more difficult to sign off tel 020 7689 0600 extensive galleries and news on. He said this is because strong, well-financed com- petition from multiples means the level and frequency of investment re- quired to stay ahead is higher; this same level of competition also means Editor - news Editor - insight News editor the risk of poor ROI is higher. Jack Courtez Chris Dillon Megan Humphrey I’m sure the hundreds of readers who entered coffee machine con- @JackCourtez @ChrisDillonNT @MeganHumphrey_ tracts requiring a certain level of use, only for a nearby multiple to in- 020 7689 3371 020 7689 3379 020 7689 3357 stall one, can appreciate this. Features editor Features writer Reporter While it’s important to always weigh the risks, there’s a danger of Tom Gockelen-Kozlowski Priyanka Jethwa Alex Yau the industry becoming damagingly risk-averse, and I suspect the ACS’s @TomGK_writer @priyanka_NT @AlexYau_NT £13,636 average symbol store annual investment level could be skewed 020 7689 3361 020 7689 3355 020 7689 3358 by big spenders, meaning many are probably investing nothing at all. I asked another shop owner about the fear of investments failing and Reporter Head of design Production editor he answered: “Instead of asking ‘what if it doesn’t work?’, shopkeepers Marcello Perricone Anne-Claire Pickard Ryan Cooper should be asking themselves ‘what if it does work?’” It’s an outlook that @MarcelloP_NT 020 7689 3391 020 7689 3354 he said helps him see opportunities, rather than just risks. 020 7689 3350 The many valid reasons not to invest include selling up, having a diffi- cult year’s trading, banks being unwilling to lend to SMEs and, crucial- Editor in chief Head of sales Head of marketing ly, needing to put a healthy amount of profit in your own pocket. Louise Banham Matthew Oliver Jessica Salisbury-Fielder 020 7689 3353 020 7689 3367 020 7689 3352 However, many stores would benefit from having more money in- Sub editor Account director Interim managing vested in them, even if there are barriers to doing so. This is why it’s our Jim Findlay George McCracken director focus this week, to break the paradox by giving strong ideas from suc- 020 7689 3373 020 7689 3364 Parin Gohil cessful retailers just like you. Sub editor Account director 020 7689 3375 Tom Allaway Charlotte Jesson Finance executive 020 7689 3395 020 7689 3389 Abi Sylvane Designer Account manager 0207 689 3383 Jody Cooke Jon Melson 020 7689 3380 020 7689 3372 Production Sales support HEADLINES INSIGHT coordinator executive Louise Watson Michela Marino 3 BREAKING NEWS 14 PRODUCT TRENDS 020 7689 3368 020 7689 3382 What the government’s autumn Is the 2020 menthol tobacco ban a budget means for you vaping opportunity? If you do not receive your copy of RN please contact Kate Daw on 020 7689 3394 or email [email protected] 5 SYMBOL NEWS 16 PRICEWATCH Printed by Southernprint, Poole, on 80gsm Galerie Fine Gloss paper Costcutter’s new store Discover the best ways you can Distributor Seymour Distribution, 2 East Poultry Avenue, London, EC1A 9PT Audit Bureau of Circulations programme meets mixed results win with chocolate singles July 2017 to June 2018 average net circulation per issue 10,356 6 STORE TOUR IN AMERICA 18 SPECIAL REPORT Annual Subscription What can you learn from this US UK 1 year £150 Europe £302 Symbol group stores receive an 2 years £237 Rest of world £354 forecourt’s food-to-go journey average of £13,636 in investment 3 years £333 every year. Seven top retailers reveal 10 NEWS & MAGS To subscribe contact 020 7689 3384 what they would do with that sum. Upmarket newsagent/cafe Newtrade franchise scheme abandoned 22 SOFT DRINKS AT CHRISTMAS 11 Angel Gate, City Road, London EC1V 2SD Tel 020 7689 0600 What are the key categories to 12 NFRN REGIONAL NEWS promote at Christmas email [email protected] Smiths called to emergency RN is published by Newtrade Publishing Limited, which is wholly owned by NFRN Holdings Ltd, which is 27 THIS WEEK IN MAGAZINES wholly owned by the Benefits Fund of the National Federation of Retail Newsagents. meeting over rising issues RN is editorially independent of the NFRN and opinions, comments and reviews included are not Is the smart home the latest necessarily those of the Federation and no warranty for goods or services described is implied. 13 YOUR VIEWS Reproduction or transmission in part or whole of any item from RN may only be undertaken with the must-have tech title? Plus: all prior written agreement of the Editor. ‘Payzone are forcing me to pay £1k the latest magazine launches, Contributions are welcomed and are included in part or whole at the sole discretion of the editor. for a contract I never signed’ special offers and re-jigs Newtrade accepts no responsibility for submitted material. Every possible care is taken to ensure the accuracy of information. For trade use only RN 2 November // betterRetailing.com 3 BREAKING NEWS Shops need Autumn Budget boon for indies ‘If the high streets are to remain, they need to adapt’ help with plastic ban Business rates for smaller Retailers have urged the government to help small businesses with stores slashed by a third extra costs incurred after a clampdown on plastic by Alex Yau as Britain adapts to online a 100% rates relief for small included a consultation to straws and stirrers. [email protected] shopping,” he said. “If the businesses, however.” tax manufacturers who The news comes after high streets are to remain, A £675m ‘Future High produce single-use plastic environment secretary Independent retailers they need to adapt and we Streets Fund’ will also be packaging that contains Michael Gove revealed he with rateable values of are supporting them in introduced to help coun- less than 30% recycled ma- has already started a six- £51,000 or under will see doing so. cils improve high streets. terial from April 2022. week consultation to ban their business rates bill “We’re providing The fund is designed Duty on beer, cider, single-use plastics. cut by a third as part of the funding to help councils to help increase public spirits and fuel are frozen. Trudy Davies, owner Autumn Budget. transform their high access to high streets, However, duty on tobacco of independent store Chancellor Philip streets, while we’re going reduce congestion and will rise by 2% above infla- Woosnam & Davies in Hammond said the to help small businesses support the conversion of tion, which will add 33p Wales, said a partnership changes will take efect with the high fixed costs disused retail spaces into to some packs of ciga- between manufacturers, from April 2019 until of business rates.” residential areas. rettes and 48p to some 30g government and retailers the next business rates In response, NFRN National living wage for pouches of rolling tobacco. is vital. revaluation in 2021. president Mike Mitchelson full-time workers will also Mitchelson added: “The “We want to be on According to Hammond, told RN: “The chancel- rise from £7.83 to £8.21 per tobacco duty rise could board with this, but the the changes will repre- lor has been listening to hour in April, equalling a lead to an increase in illicit government must give us sent an average saving of retailers on business rates, £690 annual increase per trade, and the government an incentive,” she said. £8,000 per property. “High which are a huge problem. employee. must increase its level of “This will have an impact streets are under pressure We would have liked to see Other announcements enforcement alongside it.” on us, but if manufactur- ers are able to work with us and give us an alterna- tive for the same price that would really help.” Gove said the ban could be introduced as early as next year. Alcosynths are coming Alcohol replacements known as ‘alcosynths’ could recreate the short- term efects of drinking, without hangovers and longer-term health issues.