16 ASIAN TRADER 12 MAY 2017 http://www.asiantrader.bizFollow us on: http://www.twitter.com/AsianTrader Like us on: http://www.facebook.com/AsianTraderAWARD WINNER
SHAKHIL BASHIR“We are well known for retail in this area,
all the shopkeepers know us. Because I
worked in the cash and carry for so many
years, lots of retailers knew me before,”
says Shakil. “A lot of them like us, lots
don’t, sometimes we open shops that
are near their shops but that’s the
nature of the business.”
Although lots of retailers in the
area have become associated with a
symbol group, Shakil has never been
tempted to join them and believes he
isn’t missing out because of it.
“There are always deals going on,
and we specialise in end of lines, short
date items, so these are much cheaper
anyway,” says Shakil. “In terms of
merchandising and POS material, Bestway
help us out. They send people to help us
merchandise but it isn’t hard.”
One of the down sides of the job has been
dealing with theft. In a deprived area of
Leeds, he has frequently come up against
the challenge that shoplifting presents.
“Theft is definitely the worse part of thejob, and trouble makers,” says Shakil. “There
has been a surge in shoplifting since we have
done up the Beeston store. We have 40
cameras but it is still
hard to keep track of
everything.”
Shakil thinks
shoplifting is some-
thing that cannot be
stopped and that hiring
more staff wouldn’t
prevent it.
“Eyes are better
than cameras but
your eyes can’t be
everywhere,” says
Shakil. “You will never
stop it, unless you hold
their hand as they are
going around the store.We catch someone every few days. It is easy
to spot someone as we know our regular
customers and sometimes you just have a
gut instinct.”
Despite having to write off considerable
losses to shoplifting, Shakil admits that he
no longer gets the police involved.
“We used to phone the police but it
doesn’t work,” says Shakil. “You go to
detain them and the police might take
an hour – so I’ve lost one member of
staff who is sitting in a room with the
guy waiting for the police to arrive. If
the police come, we have to go to the
police station and they get a slap on the
wrist. It’s just a headache. We just take
stuff off them and bar them from the shop.
We also put photos on the PC so all the staff
can see them.”
Although retailers are often told to
embrace technology, Shakil says he doesn’t
have that much use for it.
“We have EPOS and a website – although
it is currently under construction at themoment,” says Shakil. “I use Facebook and
Twitter – mainly to advertise the fact we are
open 24 hours. But I don’t like it when
people put up comments and then argu-
ments start and it becomes a keyboard war.”
When it comes to the future, Shakil
believes he might only be in the retail game
for a few more years.
“It is getting harder and harder to make
money,” says Shakil. “Everything is Price
Marked and controlled – you can’t make the
same money as you used to be able to. I am
not sure exactly what I will do, but probably
something a bit easier.”
Whether Shakil decides to take it easy in
the future, it is clear that at present plenty
of investment is going into the KASA stores.
They are notable examples of modern,
aesthetically pleasing, thriving stores, and
therefore, a worthy winner of the Asian
Trader Independent of the Year award.Shakil on the AWRS
legislation
I think the AWRS is good because it
puts everyone on a level playing field.
Before we were selling Super Strength Lager
for £2, and the shop down the road sold it at £1,
because they were buying on the black market and
we couldn’t compete. The black market has already
been affected by it and the cash and carries can’t
keep up with demand. I got a text from Parfetts
saying that due to the AWRS there was a high
demand and they were running out of lines and
that they were working hard to resolve the
issue. It is the same with the other
wholesalers. It just shows how bad the
situation was and what a change
this legislation has already
made.Shakil on Plain
Packaging
Plain packaging is a headache. We
have got some branded packets left
but they will be gone by the time the law
comes in. I think increasing packet sizes is
just going to cause more theft because
people can’t afford cigarettes any more. I
don’t know if they are trying to stop kids
from smoking but now adults on benefits
can’t afford to buy a 20 packet because
of their day to day budget. In regards
to RYO, 30g is a lot of tobacco and
a lot of money to spend.Award Winner KASA1.indd 16 5/4/2017 8:22:25 AM