Val's Store
Val's Store
The opening of Sainsbury’s Local in Lordship Lane has affected some of the local businesses in the area; Val’s Store is one of the shops under threat and struggling to survive.
Val’s Store is a grocery shop in Lordship Lane which has been around for 13 years. The owners of the shop are Joseph and his lovely wife Nisha. Originally from Sri Lanka, Joseph has been living and working in the UK since 1988, he met and married his wife Nisha who settled in the UK 8 years ago, they both have two children.
Ingrid (editor of DOV), who is a regular customer at Val’s Store told me how Sainsbury’s Local is affecting the business. So we both decided to interview the owners of the shop to gain an insight into the situation.
Joseph told us that most of the local businesses in the area are suffering just like Val’s. It came as a huge surprise when Joseph told us that the actual weekly loss he has been making due to Sainsbury’s Local was £4000 a week! Due to the significant loss they have been facing they’ve had to cut staff numbers and now only have one person working there on a part-time basis.
Joseph and Nisha
During the summer season business is usually high in the area, but now it’s a different story. Joseph told us that new customers aren’t aware of the low prices that Val’s Store offers since shopping at Sainsbury’s Local is much more convenient. When we asked Nisha about her views she told us with a smile that she loves Dulwich and she can’t imagine living or working anywhere else, her children attend a nearby secondary school and they also loved it in Dulwich. But her main worry was to be able to make ends meet.
Nisha is a very positive person and always smiling, her husband Joseph said that Nisha attracts the customers and provides excellent customer service; I myself have witnessed this when Nisha was helping customers – she is the life of the shop and works very hard.
Ingrid and I asked Nisha what their future plans or considerations were for Val’s Store. Nisha was quite positive and is thinking about different ideas and products to sell, perhaps going down the organic route. On the other hand Joseph said that he’ll consider advertising products and prices on a blackboard outside the shop to attract customers.
While observing the store’s products Ingrid and I did find that many of the prices were actually quite cheap compared to Sainsbury’s Local, but most of the products were also available at Sainsbury’s Local. Small businesses such as Val’s Store need to specialise in products big supermarket chains don’t sell.
After interviewing Joseph and Nisha, Ingrid and I decided to walk down to Sainsbury’s Local where we met a lovely employee of the store who was happy to talk to us. ‘I’m very lucky that I got a job here, I sympathise with the local shops such as Val’s, the lady who works there is very kind. But there is not much that can be done from Sainsbury’s side, it’s all about competing with Tesco, Sainsbury’s won’t change for small businesses in the area. Some businesses in the area have thrived because of Sainsbury’s Local, not groceries but the DIY shop for instance, but others have suffered. I think that local shops should specialise in products Sainsbury’s don’t sell such as organic products. I strongly believe that local shops would have to make changes in order to survive because Sainsbury’s would not’.
Sainsbury's Local in Lordship Lane
I contacted Sainsbury’s Press Office to get their view about the situation, this is what they said:
‘We have no wish to see local shops go out of business. It is in our interests to be part of a thriving local community and our experience is that a small Sainsbury’s can benefit the area by providing added investment and increasing footfall. Overall, this can support the vibrancy of local parades attracting new business, providing new jobs and helping to fill vacant units. Our Local stores provide people with a grocery and convenience offer within walking distance of their homes and for those needing to top up their shopping, rather than one of our larger store formats.
They do not offer the specialist knowledge and ranges that others, such as local butchers, greengrocers and delicatessens, can provide. We have a standard range and offer in our Sainsbury’s Local stores, however, where
possible we try to tailor this offer in special circumstances to complement other traders, rather than compete with them.’
I believe that local shops will have to specialise in their products and knowledge in order to thrive as a business. But we as customers will have to support our local shops in order for them to survive or big supermarkets will continue destroying small businesses.
6 Comments
I wish Joseph and Nisha all the best…they are so friendly and deserve our support. Try to shop at Val’s if you can rather than Sainsbury’s.
This is a real problem. It’s true that the small supermarket shops do increase footfall in an area, but sadly not to the benefit of nearby small grocers.
We can help by using the locally owned shops whenever possible – resist the temptation to go into the Tesco/Sainsbury or whatever for small items, encourage the small shops to stock specialist items and to publicise where their prices are cheaper. I remember the greengrocer who used to be in that parade years ago saying that if he could charge Sainsbury prices for his fruit and veg he could retire to the Canaries!
Sainsburys and Tesco are often not just plain expensive for eg fruit, but because you have to buy in packets they are even more expensive for people living alone as produce goes off (or at least is not as fresh) before it’s all been eaten. So it’s wasteful and also increases the amount of landfill because of all the packaging.
It is astonishing that Val’s is losing as much as £4k per week ( ie £570+ per day) to Sainsburys. I assume that must be turnover, not profit. If that degree of loss is repeated across all the local grocers – it means Sainsburys could be capturing around £15+k per week just from local traders. The Post Office seems to have responded vigourously on the product and pricing front. Val’s needs to do the same. Sue G’s suggestions are spot on. Target the gaps in Sainsburys offer. Show the pricing. Have daily special offers. Maybe update the premises. Etc. There’s no reason why Val’s can’t become the SMB Foods of upper Lordship Lane. But they must update their offer to even better meet customer’s needs and earn their support, as well as be smart in where to compete. A strategy of hope that customers should rally round to save small traders is not sustainable. The fact is, the lost £4000 per week is probably gone for good. It may be possible to recover some in due course – a good target might be £1k per week initially. The approach now must be to halt the loss and take action to stabilise the business at the new level of sales whilst working out how to generate the extra £1k per week, and go from there. The question is – how many sales of what would generate the extra £1k per week
Lots of really sensible ideas here, Phil. The next thing to do is to talk to Nisha and Joseph and see if they would like act on any of them. Once they have adapted their stock and displayed their prices (lower than Sainsburys), they could be helped with a small local marketing campaign.
I can help with the marketing campaign!
I spoke to Nisha the day after your article came out as this is what my franchise business, ORCA Local Dulwich, is all about – helping the small independents compete against the big brands and chains!
ORCA Local works by marketing local shops and businesses to the local community via a very cost effective platform (www.orcalocal.co.uk/dulwich) and a loyalty key card scheme.
There is lots more to it and The Dulwich Estate have kindly agreed to include a flyer in their September mailing! It’s a great scheme and I am totally committed to making it a big success. It is amazing how many businesses in Dulwich are struggling whether from the downturn in the economic climate; parking restrictions or competition from the big brands.
I have offered Joseph and Nisha the first three months on ORCA Local Dulwich free of charge, after which they will hopefully be so pleased with the results they will be happy to pay the £30 per month standard charge.
The key card is FREE and most participating businesses stock them, or you can order on-line and register for our updates/newsletter at the same time. Please join our Facebook Page too!
Watch out for some big prize draws coming up in September!
P.S. Ingrid, would love to meet for a chat!