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Landmark Wholesale has reached the milestone of achieving its 2,000th store conversion to its Hot House / Lifestyle Express retail development programme.

Jay’s Cabin, a Lifestyle Express store in Wombourne on the outskirts of Wolverhampton, completed its full store conversion at the beginning of September. Owner Sundeep Singh (or Sunny as he is known to his customers) has invested in the complete redevelopment of his store to transform the 800 sq ft store from a pure off licence into a fully operational convenience store with a grocery and impulse offering.

Sunny explained: “We have owned this store for over three years, operating as an independent off licence. However, we realised that to guarantee a successful future for us we needed the help and support of a symbol group. So with help from my local wholesaler Blakemore at Wolverhampton and upon recommendation from another Lifestyle Express retailer, we decided to become a full convenience store under the Lifestyle Express fascia.

“It’s only been a few weeks, but the transformation has been immediate. We have changed our opening times to cater for the greater influx of customers we are now getting early in the morning on the way to school and work, and later in the evening.”

The store is the 2,000th conversion in Landmark Wholesale’s Hot House store redevelopment programme which was launched in 2005 to help regenerate the independent retail sector. Over four years, Landmark Wholesale, in collaboration with supporting suppliers and its member wholesalers, has developed the programme to offer independent retailers the right tools to become better disciplined, have a professional image and offer the right range within the right in-store layout.

Once inception, the programme has achieved maor sales growth across these 2,000 stores and currently the year-on-year performance is +20%.

Jay’s Cabin is the 2,000th store conversion, with Landmark Wholesale on track to achieve its projected target of 2,350 conversions by April 2010.

Raj Krishan, Senior Retail Controller at Landmark Wholesale explained: “This is a significant milestone in our four year plan for Hot House and the Lifestyle Express fascia. Four years ago we piloted this programme with just 16 stores in the West Midlands, and thanks to the collaboration of our members, suppliers and retailers we are delivering real growth across the independent sector for all parties involved and more importantly delivering what the consumer is looking for.

“Sunny’s store is a perfect example of how Hot House / Lifestyle can work with an independent to help deliver a store’s potential and put in place measures so that the retailer can be confident of long-term success.”

September 2009

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