A valuable business

The new Value Centre in Wicklow only opened its doors in April but in those few months manager Pat O’ Brien has firmly put his stamp on the place.

People

13 October 2010

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From the minute you meet Pat O’ Brien the manager of Value Centre in Wicklow you can tell that he takes great pride in the business he manages. It’s also apparent that customer service is of huge importance to him by observing how he interacts with his customers. O’ Brien has only been with BWG for four years but has been working in the cash and carry business for over forty years since he left school. “I came from what was formally Wicklow Cash and Carry. Value Centre purchased Wicklow Cash and Carry four years ago and I came as part of the package and then Value Centre asked me to manage the new branch here for them,” says O’ Brien.

Moving in

BWG bought Wicklow Cash and Carry with a view to expanding business in the vicinity. The development of this site took just over a year to complete. “This site is substantially bigger than what we were trading from and it’s modern, bright and purpose built. It’s just under 20,000 sq ft with room for expansion.”

O’Brien says that the customers have also been adjusting to their new surroundings. “Our customers are still familiarising themselves with the layout as it’s totally different to what we had previously. Customers are very impressed with the size of it, the brightness, the cleanliness and our aim is to continue to develop our service to our customers. We have a state-of-the-art business here. The layout of the store is customer friendly. Customers can walk the aisles in sequence picking up their products and see the price points displayed. Our promotional products are all displayed on the ends and we continuously update those.”

Customer base

This Value Centre caters for a multitude of businesses and it services all the XL stores in the area. “Our main core customers are the independents, the catering and the pub trade, hotels and delis,” says O’ Brien.

Along with O’ Brien there are 10 full time staff employed in the business with most of these formally working in Wicklow Cash and Carry. “I reckon we’ve a very good team of conscientious individuals here. They all have plenty of experience. My job is to manage the business and form customer relations, organise purchasing and manage the desk.”

A new home

O’ Brien says that the move to the new premises was very smooth with no major teething problems. “We had great support from head office of highly skilled people in IT, marketing, the development team and they were all on site here for a couple of weeks to smooth everything over and make sure there weren’t any difficulties and if there were to sort them out as soon as possible.”

vc3 He has seen a shift in business over the past couple of years and has had to restructure the whole pricing policy to reflect the more competitive market place. “Promotions are the way to drive the business and give our customers the competitive edge. We continue to grow and develop the Family Value range. It’s a tool to offer our retailers a bit of competitiveness in the market place. The Family Value range is becoming more impressive as the marketing team develop it.

“We also have our new Chef’s Kitchen range which is everything caterers need for the kitchen. We are continuously developing this range and are growing the catering end of the business too.”

Service to your door

Wickow’s Value Centre delivers to 80% of their clients. Many of their customers come in and pick their own order and then it is delivered for them. “Customers would come in to check new offers and have a wander around to see what new products are available. We’d be in contact with our customers on a daily basis and our sales team keep them up to date about what’s on offer, what’s coming up and what’s new in the market place. We have national and local promotions. The local ones compliment the national.

vc5 “If a customer needs a particular product to compete with their competitor down the road we’d always be receptive to that. At worst we will match a price and usually better it. We like to think we are very competitive.”

Being part of a larger entity

O’Brien says that being a manager for BWG is a huge change for him after working in smaller cash and carrys all his life. “It’s great being part of a large organisation and being in a professional environment. The support from head office is wonderful. We have a big team up in Walkingstown that are on board for any advice or assistance we need and the 16 sales developers in the region let the retailers know about any offers we have.”

At present the next closest Value Centre is in North Road in Dublin or in Wexford so this branch is well placed to service a good chunk of the East Coast. And they seem to be very serious about giving the best service they can and growing the business. “We are flexible and we need to be flexible to meet local customers’ needs. If they need an order in a hurry we’ll get it to them. We’ve two vans at the moment and a vanette for emergencies and we’ll look at getting another van soon.”

The year ahead

Like many others in the retail business O’ Brien is hoping the Christmas will prove fruitful and it trying to remain optimistic amid all the gloom. “Christmas will be interesting this year as it’s going to be savagely competitive. We’re geared up for that. Our marketing team have been working with Christmas in mind since the beginning of the year. We want to give our customers the edge to compete. I think there is an air of optimism out there and the confidence to spend is coming back. Hopefully Christmas will be good for us all.”

Future of Value Centre

The XL brand has just launched a new image and BWG would be hoping that this will result in a wave of new XLs opening. “We’re continuing to grow and expand. Under the new image we have 28 XLs. We hope to have another couple on stream in the near future. There should be 200 nationwide by next year.”

vc7 A new XL is due to open in Dun Laoghaire which will be the sixth opened by the Wicklow branch of Value Centre this year.

“It’s indicative of the forward planning and thinking of the Value Centre group that they are continuing to develop more sites and giving the retailers an opportunity to revamp their stores at non-exorbitant but acceptable costs. The focus now is growing this business over the next couple of years.”

O’Brien and his team certainly have the tools and the ambition to do just that.

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