Best Western

With supermarkets continuing to dominate fruit and veg sales, the greengrocer has found it harder than ever before to succeed, and this is something traders at Western International Market are more than aware of.

While the market’s wholesalers, who primarily supply into independent retail, are now fully settled into their new home following relocation to a new 130,000 sq ft site back in 2009, many have admitted that business is tough.

Bal Badesha runs Exotica Superfruit, a business that imports most of its produce from Asia, and like many of the market traders his main customers are greengrocers and independent retailers. He admits: “In the long term I see the wholesale market as somewhat of a dying trade as the decline in the independent retailer isn’t sustainable for us. The problem is that the likes of Tesco, Morrisons and Asda are all starting to offer the same kinds of fruit and veg as the local greengrocer, and as a result, many wholesalers are seeing a decline.” Exotica Superfruit has five retail outlets across the UK, to supplement its wholesale business, and Badesha says he is expecting further growth this year, but insists that this is largely due to the firm’s edge in retail.

With the market positioned opposite a Tesco store, the juxtaposition of the supermarket isn’t lost on traders. “Just look at that supermarket across the road,” says Blake Congerton ofPremier Fruits.

“The parking is what is killing off greengrocers. The high street is full of double yellow lines so of course people are going to go to their local supermarket as it is a more convenient option.”

With its primary site a mainstay at New Covent Garden Market and a
significant foodservice wholesaler, Premier’s Western International business is focused in supplying independent retailers.

Congerton pleads: “The government must back greengrocers and independent retailers more strongly or markets like this are in trouble. Supermarkets like Morrisons are launching their Market Street campaign and driving trade away from greengrocers on the high street; I don’t see Mary Portas reversing that.”

However, despite their concerns, all traders remain upbeat and confident that the market will find ways to continue to succeed. Harvey Stillman of wholesaler and mushroom seller J.J. Cheney, has been at the market for over 30 years, and he says that there is a real buzz among the public to back their local greengrocer and market stalls at
the moment.

He explains: “If you did a price comparison on fruit and veg, the greengrocers are offering much cheaper deals than the likes of Tesco; the issue is making produce more obvious to the public who are on the lookout for bargains. A lot of greengrocers are adding the option of credit card payments – these sort of innovations are key.”

With over three decades at the market, Stillman has seen a lot of change and says that imports now significantly outstrip locally sourced produce. “If you had a look at how many people here are selling English tomatoes, you would struggle, and even on mushrooms, with most coming in from the likes of Poland and Belgium. Yes, there could be more English produce, but I think it is interesting to see how far things have come.

“The ethnic and cultural diversity here means you’ll get great-tasting varieties from all across the world. Yes they have buyers across the world, but I don’t think the supermarkets have the same level of diverse supply base that we have here.”

The world’s leading grower of watercress, Vitacress, has six wholesale trading operations, with two based at the market, and Charles Rees, MD of Vitacress Sales, says that the opportunities are still there for traders. “Yes it is tough, but there is still business out there and this market is so well respected that people are always demanding our services.”

One trader who has had a particularly challenging year is Aziz Patel, company director of Ahmed Exotic. With the firm a prominent mango supplier, business has been disrupted due to DEFRA restricting many of its imports from India and Pakistan, with fears of an infestation of the Asian fruit fly. Patel jokes: “If you go around the market and check any pallet after two or three days you’ll find fruit flies, but according to DEFRA it is a non-European fly so we joke that they are racist to our insects.”

Jokes aside, the issue will put Pakistani mango volumes down at well over 50 per cent for the firm, but Patel remains upbeat despite the loss. “Yes it is true that when a greengrocer closes another one doesn’t open, but the traders at this market are the best of the best and will always find demand. We have been here since the market opened three years ago and we were at the old Western for about 15 years. I don’t expect or imagine we will c leave here anytime soon.”

Rees of Vitacress admits that traders often look too much into the negatives and says that, supermarket worries aside, traders at Western have a lot to be positive about. He concludes: “Our location [on the M4 and next to Heathrow] is excellent as it is easy to get in and out of and we all get on well despite the competition.

“With the rich mix of cultures, I’d say if you want to see a microcosm of everything that modern-day Britain stands for then come and visit Western International.”

FPJ apologises for a mistake in the print edition in which J.J. Cheney was referred to as JJ Trading. This has now been corrected.

KING OF THE HILL

With Western International now three years into its relocation, Thomas Hobbs caught up with Jonathan Hill, chairman of the Western International Market Tenants’ Association, to find out how things are progressing.

How would you assess how business is going for traders? Many have said that trade is difficult with their supply base of independent retailers in decline.

I think things have gone well since we’ve moved over here. We are at 100 per cent occupancy, every stand is filled and trade seems to have levelled out and, if anything, has got better. Market turnover was at around £500 million last year, and I don’t see that falling.

Many traders have called for a rethink of the market’s parking and said that it is too small of a space. How would you respond to this?

Yes, this is a smaller site than the last but we don’t have any more space. I think one thing going for us is the position where we are and the close links to the M4 and M25. You have New Spitalfields, which works on a more price-orientated basis, and New Covent Garden, which specialises in the catering trade.

I see us the middle ground between the two and the best of both worlds. Many of our traders are breaking out into foodservice and that’s good to see.

Is there a strong future in wholesale? You’ve been in the role of chairman for almost eight months now – what wouldbe your assessment?

I have been in the business for over 40 years [Hill is MD at family-run veg trader JTS Hill at the market] and I can honestly say that I feel positive about the future of wholesale. If you had asked me that 15 years ago, I would say this business wouldn’t last. I remember my dad saying the supermarkets will never take off, laughing them off.

We would go down the road and get the food from the butchers, the bakery and the greengrocers. But through the 80s the supermarkets got more and more powerful, with many independents dipping away. What you see now is the supermarkets are still strong but people want a different angle. They want to go to a market stall and I could take you to one tomorrow and it is buzzing, with fantastic produce and better quality than ever before. I think that post-Horsegate, people are more interested in the traceability of their food, whether that’s meat or vegetables, and the independents that we supply are seeing a real buzz in demand as a result.

Can traders at the market still make a profit out of supplyingindependent retailers and market stalls?

The people left in this business, the ones who have survived, are the best of the best.It is scary when you consider Tesco sells 25 per cent of all the food sold in this country.

But for me, people now want a different outlet, they want personal relationships with staff and Tesco cannot provide like a greengrocer who will become a friend. I am only as
good as my customers, and independents are generating a positive buzz.

Walking around the market, it is clear that there is a wide rangeof fresh produce, with many Asian and South American fruitvarieties. What does this mean for British producers?

I think at the end of the day, variety is key to everything. If you turn your TV on there is a cookery show on every 10 minutes, with chefs like Jamie Oliver cooking produce from all over the world, and we have to cater to that. I sell 10 different mushroom varieties; things I’ve never seen in my lifetime are coming through and over the next 10 years that will only keep on progressing.

Our stalls have so much quality and variety now, and whether that’s produce grown down the road or in Pakistan, it can only be a positive.