The hustle and bustle that has been lost on many markets has continued to this day. “This is very much a family-orientated market, and this is one of the advantages of being a small size,” says Sam Leason, managing director at
HS Leason & Sons Ltd. “We know each other personally, we have a good relationship with our customers, and we serve a lot of smaller businesses.”
Buyers are attracted to the small-size market over the scale of the near-neighbour site in Birmingham, because they would rather be “a big fish in a little pond”, says Leason, and they have more buying power at Wolverhampton. The traders do not see the Birmingham site as competition. “Wolverhampton is a secondary market to Birmingham, but it is a busy little market - just like a market should be,” Leason adds.
The market has nine tenants and is fully occupied. “There are no empty stands and the arrival of some distribution companies has not affected trade or the atmosphere in the market,” says Leason.
The customer base is made up of independent retailers, including street market traders in the Wolverhampton city area, Dudley, Bloxwich, and Walsall, as well as the catering trade. The catchment area stretches from Shrewsbury, on the border with Wales, north to Stafford, out towards Birmingham and south to Worcester.
The decline in the independent retail trade with the growth of the UK major multiples has put pressure on the wholesale trade, but Durnell says a new focus could help Wolverhampton stay on top of its game. “We have to get more involved in the foodservice sector, as there seems to be more and more business out there,” he says. “The increase in kebab shops alone in the Midlands has boosted trade, as the shop-owners buy in quite a bit of gear, especially onions and salads.”
Traders have started to diversify their offer in order to hold their own in the changing marketplace. Leason, for one, operates two companies - the first, a traditional wholesaler, and the second, a distribution service open to all named Fresh 4 You. The service was set up nearly two years ago as a way of branching out from traditional wholesale, in order to defend the business from the impact of the major multiples.
Fresh 4 You delivers 181 different lines, including fruit, vegetables, salads, flowers and mineral water, to private homes, busy working couples and office blocks, and a wider customer base. Orders can be made from the website - www.fresh4you.co.uk.
“I came up with the idea when some friends of mine asked me to drop some vegetables in a box at their house after work, and when they saw the product, they were very impressed that the cauliflower was so fresh that it still had snow on it,” says Leason. “Local farmers from Worcester or Lancashire bring produce into the market at 10pm, it is packed at 2am, and it can be on breakfast plates in the morning - we try to use as many local growers as possible because they are right on top of quality,” he adds.
The two-van operation delivers fresh produce to within a 30-mile radius of the market, from North Bridge to Cannock, Walsall, Lichfield and Dudley. The business is yet to serve the Birmingham area because of traffic and congestion in the city centre, but there are plans in the pipeline to extend the service into this region.
“This is our way of fighting back against the supermarkets,” says Leason. “People have more and more work to do, and less time for shopping, which can seem like a chore, especially in big retailers with massive queues.
“We want to show consumers how good the produce is on the market, and how fresh local produce can be,” he adds.
So what is in store for the rest of the traders at Wolverhampton? Neither a move nor a renovation, Durnell says, but the development of a composite market on the site could be an avenue for the future, with one dedicated fish firm already present.
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