The outlook, on the face of it, certainly looks gloomy. Type “greengrocer” into Google News and the results show two greengrocers with 55 years of history between them closing down in the past week. Coulsdon and Trowbridge are waving goodbye to two stores that built up a legacy that looks set to be lost.
But, despite these saddening tales, the future is not all bleak for greengrocers. Stores that can find a niche that meets local people’s needs are discovering that, although the recession may have slowed things, business is not on the brink.
For the award-winning Naked Grocer in Walton-on-Thames, business is steady but certainly not easy, according to owner Chris Bavin. “There’s a large percentage of people that associate the retail multiples with value. But a lot of people realise there’s value outside of that. Being able to choose the quantities you buy is very important to people now as they try to minimise waste,” he says.
The shop has an emphasis on cutting waste by selling “naked” products that have as little packaging as possible. Its trendy-looking website explains: “Not every apple needs to be vac packed, in a cellophane wrapper or punnet. We love fruit, veg and flowers and believe they are best as nature intended.”
Bavin says selection and local produce are also very important, as provenance is a large factor in people’s minds. “People are frightened of losing the high street and where food comes from is a concern for them,” he says.
This mindset is encouraging since, as Andrew Jones from Peter’s Produce in Kent explains, greengrocers buy local because it makes sense. “There’s nothing gained from having it brought in from the other side of the UK,” he says. But where Peter’s does go the extra mile is in its efforts to enhance its profile by shouting about local sourcing.
The shop has recently become a member of Produced in Kent, a membership organisation dedicated to promoting local and seasonal produce and providing support and services for Kent businesses in the food, drink and artisan craft sectors. Jones says traditionally the shop tends to do quite well during recessions because people shop around, but he admits the shop does make an extra effort.
“We work hard during recessions by spending more money on adverts, new signage and new vehicles and refrigerators. If the money’s coming in we have to invest it,” he says. “We advertise in local newspapers and we take out a full page in magazines in the area. It’s about getting the name out there and in people’s heads so when they go past the shop they recognise it or when they see a van they recognise it. It’s nice to have young mums coming in, the families, because the kids love it, they pick everything up and play with it.”
However, Jan Symington from Beanies Wholefoods in Sheffield is more cautious. “We do a recipe each week on our website and we advertise if the publication is something we want to support.”
Muharren Bora, who runs greengrocers in Newington Green and Stoke Newington in London, is lucky enough to have customers who help with promotion. “We don’t advertise ourselves but the customers advertise us. The people, they put us on Facebook, they put us in the newspaper. On Saturday night we were on BBC radio,” he says.
“In this area, the people are trying to come to local shops and we’re working very hard and I think we’re doing the right things. We try to get as much local stuff as we can but it’s not easy nowadays because it’s winter and most of the suppliers supply the big stores like Tesco and Sainsbury’s and anything they have left over they send to the market and we can get it. But in the summer time we get quite a lot of local stuff.”
One area where the Naked Grocer is generating a lot of business is through its fruit and vegetable box scheme. Bavin says: “Deliveries are incredibly popular. It’s not a model I particularly like. I hate the fact people rely on us for what they choose to eat as there’s no replacement for going into the shop. But we split the boxes we offer, we do it so there’s the opportunity to choose some of the produce they need and rely on, otherwise we do these random boxes and people still have to go to the supermarket. A lot of it is all about surprise though because people really like that.”
Peter’s Produce also delivers fruit and vegetable boxes and Jones is similarly unenthusiastic. “The delivery service isn’t too bad,” he says. “I prefer people to come to the store as we get a higher mark up and it saves all the money on diesel and maintaining the vans.”
So what’s the main ingredient that makes these businesses work? For Peter’s Produce it’s colour, freshness and abundance. “That makes an impact,” Jones says. “At this time of year we’ll put naval oranges on offer at five for a pound; that’s barely more than I pay for them but you’ve got to have something to pull them in.”
At the Naked Grocer it’s all about interaction. “I think service is the main thing,” Bavin says. “The independent retailers have to offer that and learn that. We don’t have large promotion budgets or anything like that. It’s an increasingly difficult area but there’s incredibly knowledgeable people and well-versed people and we have to show that.”
At Bora’s greengrocers, the quality of the product and supplying what the customers want has been the key to the business’s expansion over the past six years. “The main thing is fresh and then we’ve got the principle. We don’t sell something we can’t eat ourselves. When the customers pick up something mouldy, if the cashier sees it, they take it out and say to the customer ‘get another one’. We care about our customers. We always say we are not the boss, the customers are the boss.”
Over at Beanies, it’s the combination of everything it does - veg boxes, its new bakery, its focus on organic and wholefoods and its reputation.
In each case, these stores are continuing old-fashioned tactics such as beautiful frontages and the freshest local foods, but what seems to set them apart is a willingness to invest in new stores, new lines, new facilities and, as a result, their future. -
