Poundland fascia

One of the few empty shops in Hexham will soon be occupied again, with Poundland set to move into the former Heron Foods site in Priestpopple.

Though no opening date has been confirmed yet, store jobs have been advertised and a planning application submitted for “one internally illuminated fascia sign and one internally illuminated hanging sign”. Drawings of the signage attached to the application confirm Poundland as the retailer in question. [UPDATE, 14 Nov 2011: The opening has now been confirmed for this coming Thursday, 17 November.]

The move is significant in that it’s outside Hexham’s main pedestrianised thoroughfare of Fore Street, where multiple retailers have tended to cluster. That street, however, is consistently fully let, with Mountain Warehouse (in the former Stead & Simpson) and Iceland (in the old Woolworths) among the recent arrivals.

Priestpopple, Hexham (4 Dec 2010)

Priestpopple and Market Street, in contrast, have tended to have a higher proportion of independent stores. Nevertheless, the former Heron site is in a good location – close to the bus station, opposite the side entrance to Beales department store (formerly Robbs), and on the way to the hidden Marks & Spencer in Maidens Walk – and Poundland’s arrival is likely to drive footfall further.

Beales' side entrance, Hexham (18 Sep 2011)

Hexham’s shop vacancy rate is traditionally in the low single figures, and this letting again confirms the Northumberland town’s attractiveness to retailers – as well as Poundland’s continued foray into more upmarket locations. The joy of Hexham as a shopping destination is that it combines a good mix of chains with some superb independent shops and cafés, such as Dillies (flower, chocolate and wine shop) in Market Street, and the delightful Artful gallery and Cornmill Coffee Shop in St Mary’s Chare.

Dillies, Hexham (19 Aug 2010)

As I’ve noted before, however, tentative plans for the relocation and redevelopment of Hexham’s bus station need to be progressed if the town is to capitalise on all those big-name retail space requirements that currently cannot be met.

Amar Atelier, Moraira (17 Jun 2011). Photograph courtesy of Amar Atelier

Many of you will have seen my retail column in the Bdaily last week, where I discussed some of the key ingredients that help to make a successful independent retailer. One of those ingredients is the outside of your shop – and making a great first impression through eyecatching window displays and good-quality signage.

The examples I cited in my article – Who-ray! and Chocs Away – were both in Stockton, and winners in the borough’s inaugural Town Centre Business Awards. However, I was pleased to hear from my friend, Jennifer Mullan, about a North East-influenced indie retailer that’s in a rather more far-flung location – Moraira, on Spain’s Costa Blanca.

Based in Whitley Bay, Jennifer runs a business called Jenius Image and Design, combining her talent as a designer of fashions and accessories with logo and graphic design work. Now, one of her logo projects has turned into an actual shop – Amar Atelier.

Amar Atelier, Moraira (15 Jun 2011). Photograph courtesy of Amar Atelier

Jennifer explained to me that Amar Atelier is a ‘lifestyle boutique’ selling gifts and homewares, and is the brainchild of Amanda Kingman, a British woman who has recently moved to Spain. Amanda had previously been selling gifts and accessories through her website, Coasting Along, and decided to branch out into high-street retail.

Sensibly, Amar Atelier seems to be capitalising upon this background to build a multichannel presence, with its website promising a ‘webshop coming soon’; managed well, this will help to build awareness of the physical store, as well as being an important sales channel in its own right.

In the meantime, the site is quite a simple affair, but it includes the core information that I flagged as crucial in my August 2009 blog about retailers’ websites: namely, the times that the shop is open; where to find it; and how to make contact. Good quality images are also effective in conveying the look and feel of the shop, and giving a flavour of the products.

Screenshot of Amar Atelier website (23 Oct 2011)

As Jennifer told me, the story behind the collaboration is an interesting one, coming about as a result of the website platform – Mr Site – upon which both the Jenius and Coasting Along sites were built:

“Amanda approached me via my website, after seeing my business and website link on the Mr Site newsletter, and asked me to do the logo for the shop. A lot of my work is done remotely, and it is possible to send the relevant files via email, so location is not limited.

“Amanda already had the name, and some rough ideas about what she wanted, so she gave me a brief including font ideas, colour schemes and photos of the empty shop.

“I took it from there and came up with some ideas. After narrowing it down to the final logo, Amanda got a local tradesman to apply the logo to the awning and the shop window. The logo also appears on swing tags, business cards and other stationery.

“As a designer it is great to see my work in an actual shop!”

Sadly, my blogging budget doesn’t stretch to visiting the Costa Blanca, but I do like the look of Amar Atelier as a shop, with its interesting products and creative merchandising. Furthermore, the visual identity that Jennifer has created for it is simple and elegant, yet slightly quirky – and completely in keeping with the store’s personality. Hopefully in time the logo will appear more prominently on the shop’s website too, to more explicitly connect the different parts of Amar Atelier’s fledgling multichannel offer.

Wellworth It! in Ledbury (8 Oct 2011)

Dorchester’s famous Wellworths may have had to change its name to Wellchester at Shop Direct’s behest, but a store in the Herefordshire town of Ledbury is still evoking the memory of Woolworths in both name and visual identity.

Ledbury’s Woolworths (store #696) opened at 6-8 The Homend on 9 July 1937, and went on to serve the historic market town – famous for its timber-framed buildings – for more than 70 years until the chain’s 2008 collapse. Its replacement, Wellworth It!, opened in March last year, and – like any good ‘son of Woolies’ store – stocks a familiar and well-priced mix of homewares, garden tools, cleaning products, stationery, greetings cards, toys and the like.

Wellworth It! in Ledbury (8 Oct 2011)

What’s most interesting about the store, however, is its branding. Where previous attempts to reinvent the Woolies formula have played on the name but not the imagery – be it the blue and orange of Claire Robertson’s Wellworths, the purple of the now-defunct Alworths chain, or the black and yellow of the short-lived Well Worth It (no relation) in Wallsend – Wellworth It!’s red frontage is unashamedly ‘inspired’ by that of Woolworths. Indeed, the fascia even uses the old Woolies font (below).

Pre-collapse Woolworths logo (top) and Shop Direct's version since 2009 (bottom)

Fortunately, Shop Direct has adopted a slightly different logo (above) since reinventing Woolworths online, as Woolworths.co.uk, in 2009; otherwise, you suspect that the home shopping giant would have had something to say about happenings in Ledbury.

With the Woolworths connection so apparent in the store’s current frontage, it’s fitting that the building itself is hard to mistake for anything else. Though the property features the five-bayed symmetrical frontage that typifies Woolworths’ stores of the period, the architectural detail – including the addition of quoins (decorative cornerstones) and window pediments – is a little more ornate than usual. Indeed, the design is almost identical to that of Sidmouth, below (#729): opened about a year after Ledbury, and a store that I visited last month but have yet to blog about.

Former Woolworths (now M&Co), Sidmouth (7 Sep 2011)

At Sidmouth, the pediment of the central window extends above the parapet, giving the frontage a sense of being properly finished off. A similar feature is visible at Ledbury, too, in the c1970s postcards below, but must at some point subsequently have been levelled off when the parapet was replaced. A minor niggle, perhaps, but something that studying architecture at university for six years makes hard not to notice!

Postcard of Ledbury Woolworths in the 1970s (?)

Postcard of Ledbury Woolworths, sent in 1975

Once inside Wellworth It!, however, the store feels surprisingly unlike a former Woolworths, and has much more of the character of an independent hardware store, rather like Proper Job on Clevedon’s old Woolies site (#992). The carpet throughout gives a different feel to the traditional Woolworths wooden floor – which is still in place at Wellchester and many of the other taken-over stores – while the storeroom and warehouse at the rear of the shop has been transformed into additional selling space. When I visited, garden furniture seemed to be giving way to Christmas ranges.

On the downside, I’d like Wellworth It! to do something about the ‘unwelcoming signs’ that are, as I noted last year, so rightly frowned upon by The Retail Doctor, Bob Phibbs.

Everywhere I went in the store, I felt like I was being told off – ‘do not open the packaging’, ‘all breakages must be paid for’, or occasionally both messages at the same time. Perhaps most bizarrely, the ramp leading down to the former stockroom area had a large notice along the lines of ‘this ramp is strictly for use by wheelchairs only’; woe betide any mother with a pushchair that tried to use it instead.

In a small town like Ledbury, there’s no doubt that Wellworth It! performs a valuable role in selling a bit of everything, and ensuring that the local community doesn’t have to travel out of town for everyday items. However, if Wellworth It! is to evoke the warmth and personality of the old Woolies brand – and not just the visual imagery – then it could do worse than toning down the negative messaging.

Wellchester's Claire Robertson (8 Sep 2011)

For someone who makes a habit of visiting old Woolworths – and I’ve racked up about 140 so far – there can be few ex-Woolies sites more celebrated than the one in Dorchester (store #403).

The story is well known: former Woolworths store manager Claire Robertson was hailed as a heroine of the downturn when she reopened her old shop as Wellworths, gave most of the staff their jobs back, and became a TV documentary star and chum of radio DJ Chris Evans. In turn, Claire’s actions paved the way for other ‘sons of Woolies’ to be born – including Smallworths in Selsdon, Wee W in Stornaway, and the shortlived Alworths chain – while Chelmsford’s Faith girls were inspired to (briefly) reincarnate their collapsed store as Hope.

Wellchester (with old signage) in Dorchester (8 Sep 2011)

Two-and-a-half years later, Wellworths remains a fixture on Dorchester’s South Street, though today (16 September) marks the start of a new chapter as it rebrands itself to Wellchester.

As I reported back in November, the move was necessitated by Shop Direct – owner of the Woolworths trademark since the chain’s collapse – who argued that the Wellworths brand was too similar to its own, and insisted that Claire curtail any expansion plans if she wished to retain the use of the name. Rather than face this limitation, the new Wellchester brand was born – celebrating the place where the business started, while still ensuring that it can be known as Wellies for short.

New and old logos

A week before the relaunch, I finally visited (the then) Wellworths to meet Claire and to take a guided tour around her store. Well used to dealing with the media by now, Claire is as delightful and professional as you’d expect, and her passion – for her staff, for her store, for Dorchester, and for retail in general – comes across strongly. I also detected a steely determination and a sense of not taking any nonsense – surely a valuable combination of assets for anyone seeking to build a fledgling retail business into a long-term success.

Almost since Wellworths was first launched, the media has speculated about possible expansion for the business. Claire confirmed to me that she is on the lookout for additional sites in the Dorset area, and has one or two locations in mind, though nothing suitable has become available as yet. It’s clear, however, that making the Dorchester store as successful as possible – and avoiding an Alworths-style overexpansion – remains Claire’s focus.

Pick 'n' mix at Wellchester (8 Sep 2011)

The store itself is an interesting mix of the old and new. On the shopfloor, the wooden flooring, ex-Woolies shelving and core product categories – such as toys, stationery, homewares and the iconic pick ‘n’ mix – ensure that Wellies retains a distinct whiff of Woolies.

Kitchenware aisle at Wellchester (8 Sep 2011)

The generally professional feel of the instore signage, visual merchandising and shelf labelling also gives the impression of a business that is much larger than just a single store.

A bit of Woolies heritage at Wellies (8 Sep 2011)

Upstairs, in the staff and stockroom areas, the Woolworths heritage is more explicit. Claire pointed out the old noticeboard outside the staff room, which retains its Woolies logo and the slightly odd strapline ‘People serving people’ – presumably a fairly fundamental principle for any retailer.

Wellchester's stockroom, Dorchester (8 Sep 2011)

Meanwhile, in the stockroom, Claire revealed that most product categories are stored in the same locations as they were in the Woolworths days, and that staff often still refer to them by their Woolies department numbers. Old habits, it would seem, die hard!

Yet for all the reminders of the past, Claire’s tailoring of ranges for the local market ensures that Wellies has grown into a store that feels very much a part of its community and has developed a personality of its own. Some of this is no doubt down to Claire’s own prominence and visibility; while I was touring the shopfloor with her, for example, she was approached by a customer who clearly knew who she was and wanted her to direct them to the shoe polish aisle.

Inside Wellchester (8 Sep 2011)

As Claire took me around her store, many of the most interesting stories related to how the shop’s ranges have been tweaked over time in response to customer demand, with new categories introduced, and some established ones expanded or reduced. Claire highlighted this as one of the big differences between Woolies and Wellies – moving from a format where store managers had limited power over the products that customers were offered, to one where Claire and her team can respond decisively if categories are underperforming or show further potential.

Groceries at Wellchester (8 Sep 2011)

Near the tills, for example, Claire has recently introduced a small range of groceries from Booker’s Euro Shopper value range. This features everyday products such as tinned foods, biscuits and jams, and is apparently proving popular.

Entertainment and confectionery at Wellchester (8 Sep 2011)

Though always a staple of Woolworths’ offer, entertainment is another category that Claire chose not to bring in at Wellies in the beginning, but has subsequently introduced in response to customer demand. The primary reason for not stocking CDs and DVDs to start with – the wafer-thin margins on chart product – remains an issue, and Claire highlighted how a new DVD can be cheaper to buy at Tesco than it is from her supplier. However, she noted that the popularity of the store’s back-catalogue ranges takes off some of the pressure to stock every new release.

Computer accessories at Wellchester (8 Sep 2011)

Another recent arrival is the computer accessories department, introduced on a concession basis but fully integrated into the overall look and feel of the store. This has apparently been more successful than expected, and is going to be expanded further in the coming weeks.

Picture frames at Wellchester (not stationery...) (8 Sep 2011)

One department that I was bound to ask about was picture frames, which everyone remembers from the 2009 How Woolies Became Wellies documentary on BBC One. The programme charted the run-up to the store’s opening and Claire’s recruitment of a young buyer – since departed from the company – who memorably filled an entire aisle with picture frames of every size and type. Happily, his legacy lives on in what Claire admitted is one of the store’s most popular product categories, recently supplemented with a small range of canvas prints.

Childrens' clothing at Wellchester (8 Sep 2011)

Children’s clothing, in contrast, is an area that Claire highlighted as performing less well than hoped. Like entertainment, it was another ex-Woolies staple that Wellworths hadn’t initially stocked, but later introduced in response to customers’ requests. I noticed that items were being cleared at 40% off marked prices, and Claire told me that she plans to focus more attention on childrens’ accessories – such as gloves and socks – which have performed more strongly for the store to date.

Wellworths-branded hardware products (8 Sep 2011)

When I visited the store, preparations were already underway for today’s relaunch, and, contrary to what you might expect, Claire explained that the cost of switching names will be relatively low. For example, the store’s business card and letterhead supplies were already running out, while its Wellworths-branded hardware products will be replaced with Wellchester ones as stock is sold through. 

The retention of the logo’s existing typeface and orange and blue colour scheme means that the window vinyls and instore signage – which features the corporate colours, but not the store name – do not have to be changed, and even at the front of the store, the ‘Well-’ half of the fascia can be kept with only the ‘-worths’ part replaced. At the same time, Claire is using the relaunch as an opportunity to tidy up the store’s rear service entrance on Trinity Street, adding signage where previously there was none.

Rear of Wellchester, Dorchester (8 Sep 2011)

Overall then, I was pretty impressed with what Claire and her team have achieved at Wellies. It’s a good-looking, well-stocked store, with many attractive and keenly priced products. Indeed, most things about it – from the product to the presentation – are much better than the slightly disappointing Alworths (now long gone) that I visited in Amersham last year.

Importantly, Claire and the other staff also seem to have a great team dynamic, and exude a real sense of enjoying their work – perhaps not too surprising, given their history of working together back in the Woolworths days.

Inside Wellchester (8 Sep 2011)

Most crucially of all, perhaps, Wellies was busy with shoppers for the full hour and a half that I was there. When Claire first launched Wellworths in 2009, she made the point that Woolworths in Dorchester had always been profitable, and it’s easy to see why. There’s no doubt that the store benefits both from its great location at the heart of Dorchester’s main thoroughfare – next to Marks & Spencer and opposite the independent department store Goulds – as well as from limited local competition in quite a few of its product categories.

Dorchester's busy South Street (8 Sep 2011)

However, in evolving Wellworths into Wellchester over the last two-and-a-half years, Claire seems to have avoided the trap of taking any success for granted, or of coasting along on the back of the store’s celebrity. Through decisive management and the hard work of all its staff, Wellchester has grown – and is still growing – into a store of which both Claire and Dorchester can be proud, and that performs a valuable function on the town’s high street.

Existing Waitrose in Tudor Arcade, Dorchester (8 Sep 2011)

Challenges lie ahead, for sure. Nationally, the economic situation is still flaky, while in Dorchester itself, Simons Developments’ Charles Street Project – set to feature 20 new shops and a replacement Waitrose – will bring both opportunities and competition for the town’s established retailers. Equally, any new Wellchester stores will need to respond to their local communities’ needs in just the way that Wellies in Dorchester has.

However, having met Claire, I certainly wouldn’t bet against her achieving her retail ambitions. Today is a new start for Wellchester, and it will be fascinating to see where it goes next.

Former Woolworths (now Poundland), Weston-super-Mare (21 Aug 2011)

In recent weeks, new developments in Newcastle, the collapse of TJ Hughes and the ongoing conversion of ex-Netto stores have given me plenty of topics to write about – somewhat at the expense of talking about new uses for former Woolworths.

Given the backlog of ex-Woolies pics that I’m building up, now is probably a good time to showcase a few of the stores that I’ve spotted on my recent travels, kicking off with three interesting and very different sites in North Somerset.

At the time of Woolworths’ collapse in 2008, the store at 64 High Street in Weston-super-Mare (store #81) was among the chain’s thirty longest-surviving shops, having opened its doors in about 1919.

In November 2009, the site was taken over by a combined Ethel Austin and Au Naturale store, but that closed down in March this year, having initially survived the cull that followed the retailer’s own collapse into administration in early 2010.

Former Woolworths (now Poundland), Weston-super-Mare (21 Aug 2011)

In May this year, however, the site was snapped up by Poundland – adding to its ever-growing collection of ex-Woolies locations – though the move does mean that Poundland’s former (but much smaller) site, further along the street, is now itself vacant. For what it’s worth, the new Poundland remains instantly recognisable as a former Woolworths, given that neither of the subsequent occupants have felt the need to replace the distinctive Woolies shopfront.

Former Woolworths (now The Original Factory Shop), Nailsea (21 Aug 2011)

Down the road in Nailsea, in contrast, the former Woolworths at 61-63 High Street (#1269) has neither a long history nor any architectural features that mark it out as an ex-Woolies.

Previously a Kwik Save, Nailsea’s 8,100 sq ft Woolworths only opened in October 2007; when it closed, on 6 January 2009, it was therefore among the shortest lived of all the chain’s stores. However, The Original Factory Shop took over the site in May 2009, adding to its own growing portfolio of ex-Woolies acquisitions across the country. Unfortunately I was passing through Nailsea early on a Sunday morning, meaning that I wasn’t able to get a shot while the store was open.

Former Woolworths (now Proper Job), Clevedon (21 Feb 2011)

While Poundland and The Original Factory Shop are among the most prolific occupants of former Woolies sites around the UK, it’s good to also see some independent retailers taking the opportunity to grow their businesses off the back of Woolworths’ demise.

One such location, which I visited earlier in the year, is the old Woolworths store in Clevedon (#992) at 5-7 Old Street. Opened as a Woolworths in about 1957, the building has the same typical Woolies shopfront as the store in Weston-super-Mare, and was taken over by Proper Job – a locally-based tools and DIY chain – in July 2009. Looking around the store, it certainly seemed like an Aladdin’s cave of home, garden, hardware and decorating products – a little like an indie hybrid of Wilkinson and Clas Ohlson – and is exactly the kind of useful shop that can really drive footfall and make a positive difference to a small town’s high street.

The apparent absence of a Proper Job website makes it a little hard to find out more about the business, but I understand that there are four established stores in the Somerset area – in Weston-super-Mare, Worle, Brislington and Glastonbury – as well as a newer one, in the former Woolworths in Bridgwater, which opened in June last year.

That store, no doubt, will crop up on the itinerary of one of my future visits to the South West…

Haldanes store interior (28 Apr 2011). Photograph by Bryan Roberts

Following on from yesterday’s news regarding Haldanes filing for administration, I understand that the four stores