including the Men’s and Women’s Shed and Poringland Cinema attended the free training session that provided mental health awareness and education and gave participants the skills and resources they need to help support people suffering with mental health issues who runs an extend exercise class at Poringland community centre for older adults and Henry Gowman and Peter Stuart from Poringland Men’s Shed received the Mindful Village certificate from local South Norfolk Council members One in four people will experience mental health issues in England this year so the more people we can train to support them Having wellbeing champions in the community means that people can get help immediately and this could make a huge difference to our residents' wellbeing.” which is already up and running in towns and villages across the district also challenges the associated stigma around the illness with Wellbeing Champions encouraged to have open conversations about mental health in the community The Council works with the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust’s Wellbeing Service and workplace health provider Thriving Workplaces to train Wellbeing Champions with funding from the South Norfolk and Broadland Health and Wellbeing Partnership All groups will receive branding that shows they have Wellbeing Champions in recognition of their commitment and training Find out more here. Award-winning store is looking to seal more deals with local suppliers in order to stand out against the major multiples Local food and drink products are increasingly finding space on the shelves of the award-winning O’Flynn’s Budgens store in the Norfolk village of Poringland now Booker is its main supplier Budgens retailers were previously committed to buying 95% of their stock from Musgrave Retail Partners but last year the Budgens and Londis symbol groups were sold to Booker and a more liberal supply arrangement is now in operation It was only at the back end of last year that they [Booker] officially took over The first signs have been very good,” says Mark Atkins operations and sales director at Bolster UK which also has a Budgens store at Acle on the Norfolk Broads and is headed up by businessman Jamie O’Flynn “Joining Booker has been better for our business,” says Atkins we had to buy 95% of our products from them That’s now opened up – we can go after other local suppliers We can be the retailers and entrepreneurs we want to be It’s given us the room we want to run our business.” The 6,300sq ft store did stock some local foods and drinks but the supply restrictions made it difficult to go after new business “It has opened my eyes in terms of what is out there and how many small suppliers we can hook up with,” says Atkins “Our local suppliers are family businesses – our success is their success.” He says stocking local products gives the village store a “massive point of difference” from the Asda Sainsbury’s and Morrisons supermarkets dotted around Norwich He says Budgens may not be able to totally compete with the major multiples on price but it does score when it comes to “quality and local credentials” The store now gets fresh produce from both Booker and R Tacon & Company a supplier based in Great Yarmouth that promises fresh produce “straight from our farm” Atkins says the store can put in an order to R Tacon on one day for next-day delivery which are delivered “fresh from the sea to the store” as well as an array of beers from local breweries such as Adnams Humpty Dumpty Brewery and the Wolf Brewery and bottles of rapeseed oil from producer Yare Valley Oils The store has recently linked up with Pepperell’s Meats a long-established butcher’s in East Anglia which packs and labels the fresh meat for next-day delivery to O’Flynn’s Budgens The shop is planning to host a tasting of the Pepperell’s range next month (May) “We were doing an element of that [local food] but we are progressing that more,” says Atkins O’Flynn’s Budgens of Poringland won the Most Improved Store Award at the 2015 Retail Industry Awards based on a £200,000 refit that included a new checkout system the installation of doors on chillers and LED lighting throughout the store and giving the off-licence fixture the feel of a store-within-a-store The introduction of chiller doors and LED lighting has helped to reduce utility bills by 30% to 35% “We advertised it [the award] in the local press and we’ve put the award in pride of place at the front of the store,” says Atkins “It’s improved our profile within the area It was recognition for all the people who work here They can take pride in what they have done and the industry has recognised that.” The store originally had three checkouts and a kiosk but the refit resulted in a new kiosk system serving all customers whether with small baskets and trolleys full of shopping or shoppers just wanting to buy cigarettes or lottery tickets Staff members now pack the purchases for customers The main newspaper and magazine racks are positioned by the checkouts and the area has been decluttered so there are now limited displays of confectionery and savoury snacks Atkins says the shop previously enjoyed independently judged service level ratings of 94% to 96% but the rating now stands at an impressive 98% The store owners budgeted for a 3% to 4% increase in sales for the first year after the refit Atkins says: “The early part of this year has been tight but we are reasonably happy with where we are There have been a few developments in-store since the refit a new freezer is given over to premium frozen ready meals and pies from Field Fare that include Lancashire hotpot The influence of Booker is gradually being felt around the store The wholesaler delivers twice a day on Mondays to Saturdays with fresh and chilled foods in the mornings and frozen and ambient around midday The Euro Shopper value range has been available for four months and it has its own bespoke fixture at the back of the store next to a recently introduced offering of £1 non-food which is close to the village centre and the schools in Poringland with the outlet originally being a company-owned site before becoming a franchised store seven or eight years ago with the current 600 households being bolstered by other house-building projects but the Budgens supermarket has to attract customers from the surrounding villages and hamlets The 85-space car park is proving to be a big bonus for trade The store looks to build trade by sending out between 5,000 and 6,000 leaflets to potential customers twice a month with one being a general Booker promotional leaflet and the other promoting the shop’s own local deals and highlighting its local suppliers O’Flynn’s Budgens also runs its own rewards club and communicates in-store deals and events to regular customers by e-mail Atkins says the store’s Facebook and Twitter presence is also playing an increasing role in attracting consumers from a wider area The outlet currently has more than 500 Twitter followers We see a lot of our customers two or three times a week I think people see us as a local supermarket We aren’t a convenience store or a big supermarket.” The store surveys its customers regularly to see what they like and do not like about their shopping experience in Poringland and Atkins says the business tries to act on these findings Visits to local Tesco and Sainsbury’s stores show they obviously give much more space to individual product sectors and the price promotions are usually deeper “There isn’t a lot of difference in terms of the ranges [they and] we have,” says Atkins The in-store promotions are designed to show shoppers the store can offer both value and quality a freezer reserved for special offers highlights deals on frozen desserts with the ambient shelf above featuring deals on complementary wines the freezer will contain meat for barbecues with the ambient shelf offering a mix of wines and beers we have been very happy with the way things have gone but things can always be better,” says Atkins “We have tried to look at how we can have that perception of value and quality.” Martin Andreasen marketing director at Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) says: “We are proud to sponsor the Most Improved Store category at the Retail Industry Awards 2015 impressed judges after demonstrating clear evidence of positive developments over the last two years JDE sponsored this award to show our ongoing commitment to helping retailers understand the importance of product ranges and standards of merchandising in order to run a successful business Congratulations to O’Flynn’s on being recognised as a best-in-class store at the industry ‘Oscars’.” Tagged with: Churches Priests SchoolsConventsPrisons Hospitals & Hospices