Playing to win
Just fresh from winning the Centra Store of the Year title, Andrew Cross of Cross' Centra in Naas, County Kildare is flying high. Fionnuala Carolan visited the store to see what all the fuss was about!
Print14 June 2012
Being named as the top store in the largest retail group in the country does not come easily. Winner of this accolade Andrew Cross is delighted that the hard work put in by him and his staff over the past year has paid off but very humbly says that anyone in the top ten could have won the title this year as there was so little difference in the standards between the best shops. Whether this is the case or not, he went home with the title and stepping into this store, it very quickly becomes evident that there is something a little bit special here.
One thing that is always noticeable about award winners in this industry is that no matter how good their store is, they are always eager to learn more and improve their offering. Cross is no different. Last year he undertook a major revamp at the store with huge emphasis on the bakery and deli areas and it has paid handsome dividends.
Where it all began
Cross is a first generation retailer. His background is in the pub trade and he used to work as a barman in Naas before opening this store in Hazelmere 21 years ago. “We were local to Naas and we identified this area as a growth area of the town. There was a very small amount of housing but it was zoned for a shopping centre, a new church and a school. We were here about eight years too early though. It was a complete ghost town.”
While the first few years were what he would describe as a “struggle” things took a turn for the better in 1999 when they joined Centra. He says that the minute they put Centra over the door, turnover grew by 40%.
In 2003, Centra was having a rebrand so to coincide with this they undertook a revamp of the store. Because it was the start of the bulding boom the shop needed a bigger deli. Business was so good that just five years later in 2009, Andrew was keen to do another revamp, but securing the finance was another issue. “I didn’t want to do a half job, I wanted to make a statement but I couldn’t afford to do it because it was going to cost EUR*1 million. I owned the land so this was just the cost of the knock down, the revamp, reroof etc but we needed to move cables so it was quite a tricky job. We went back to the bank again in 2010 with an extensive business plan and it was accepted.”
He had worked out that the worst case scenario would be a 5 -10% increase in business but considering the sector was trading at minus 3 or 4%, even this was being pretty confident. This confidence was borne from a considerable amount of research which included a trip to Holland with Musgrave, focus groups and a very thorough audit.
While he wasn’t nervous about taking on the job he says you always doubt yourself a bit. “I knew myself that I could restructure the finance in a particular way if I had to so that I’d still get away with just a 5-10% increase but that was the minimum. I took on a project manager, Gary Keating, and we used as many local lads as we knew and brought the job in at about 50% less than the initial cost and finished to a higher spec. This allowed us the latitude to invest in waste and to budget for training.”
Throughout the 16 week revamp which began in March 2011, the shop’s turnover dropped just 10%, a great feat in the circumstances. “We limited the range and because we’re local, people knew what we were doing and supported us through it. We actually got such kudos for investing in tough economic times. The real buzz for me was that throughout the job there was a lot of disruption for the staff and I didn’t get one complaint. Whatever had to be done was done. We even did a couple of overnights. As a result when the customers were coming in and complimenting the job, the staff were getting the compliments and were part of the buzz.”
The new store revealed
Store manager, Damien Fallon and the team celebrate winning the title of Centra Store of the Year 2012 with store owners Andrew and Barbara Cross The new store revealed Andrew and the project manager set the deadline for the completed project as the Oxygen festival in Punchestown last July because the shop is only a mile from the venue. “We needed a deadline to get the job done and that was Oxygen and we pushed the boat out to get it done. That week alone we showed an increase of 34%. It was manic but we were ready for it. We put a blimp above the shop so it could be seen from the festival.”
Figures
While the customers and staff were delighted with the new facilities, the most important element was the return on the investment and the results have exceeded all expectations. Footfall is up by 1,000 people a week and the fresh food area is making €10,000 a week. Within this bakery is taking in €2,350 and the salad bar is at €800 a week.
Other areas showing great growth are the Smooch ice-cream kiosk which can take in over €2,300 a week (weather dependent). The rounded price points in the fruit and vegetable area have resulted in sales of €3,400 a week for this department. Sales growth across all fresh departments is up an average of 67% versus 2011 figures and total sales growth for the store is up 25% "We’re delighted with that,” says Cross. “It’s just about trying to maintain it now”. Cross works closely with other Centra retailers like last years ShelfLife C-Store of the Year winner Lil Courtney and multiple award winner John Leavy from Tullamore. Cross has sent staff to be trained in Lil Courtney’s store in Fairview in Dublin. “I sent my deli supervisor up to Lil’s for two weeks to be trained. We hired the company Discover Footprints (run by Courtney and Leavy) and they came in and set up our deli and bakery department, and carried out training and merchadising.”
Store of the Year
As the job developed, Cross began to think about competing for the title of Store of the Year because they were putting in a mountain of work and the store was going to be looking its best that year. “Damien Fallon, our store manager was adamant that we would win. He came back from the conference last year and said, “we are definitely going to win this next year”. With this being our 21st year, I thought, “why not?’” Cross identified areas that needed work such as waste management, signage, training and standards and getting the planogram right. “We had a mock audit done by Lil Courtney’s regional manager Micheal Kennedy. He knew we were enthusiastic and he came and gave us a full audit and said we were not far off it but we needed to concentrate on certain things and we needed a point of difference. Our point of difference was investing in fresh and investing in standards.” Cross says that there would been murder if they weren’t in the top ten due to all the work put in by the staff. “If we were second we were last and I know that it’s a cliché but for this particular year, this was when we were going to get it because next year it would be hard to have a new point of difference.”
Night of the awards
The Centra Store of the Year award is presented during the weekend of the Centra Conference in March. Cross brought along a whole gang for the weekend including manager Damien, Raz the assistant manager and of course his wife Barbara. “It’s a great social weekend. As much and all as we wanted to win, I was gobsmacked and very proud when I heard our name. Retailers are a close knit group.When you get to the final, there is so little between the stores so you would be happy for any of those 10 to win. We were just delighted to get our turn.” A raucous night in his brother’s pub in Kilcullen was organised to celebrate with all the staff for the weekend after the conference.
The future
Aside from the Naas store the Crosses also have Centra stores in Newbridge and Kilcullen. Cross jokes that he lives by the mantra, “decide, delegate and disappear” in order to cope with it all! For his next challenge he would love to branch out and take on a SuperValu. “There are not too many greenfield sites for convenience stores around here but the area is crying out for a SuperValu. I would love to have a crack at it.” Someone with this kind of drive, experience and determination would face no obstacles in running any type of business they desired.
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