Asian Trader Magazine – 12-25 May 2017

SHOPWATCH

http://www.asiantrader.biz 12 MAY 2017 ASIAN TRADER 59

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Trying to revitalise a forgotten corner

of Quinton, Birmingham is Abdullha

Ali with his newly refurbished LoCost

Hypermarket.

Hello, tell us a little about your

history?

I’m a born and bred Birmingham boy

who has been working in a corner

shop of some kind since the age of

14. My first taste of retailing came
    when my uncle got me to help out at
    his corner shop doing bits and bobs.
    I liked the experience and when I
    left school I went straight into
    retailing and have been in it for the
    last ten years.

When did you buy your first store?

In 2009. Before I bought my first

store I had a stint as a window

salesman for four years but I always

had a desire to get back to what I

started in. So when I had had

enough of selling windows I raised

£70,000 from bank loans and my

own money and bought my first

shop.

How many stores do you have now?

I currently have three, I bought my

second store in 2011. Moving from

one store to two was difficult and I

learned a lot about staff trust and

standards but I always wanted more

shops. After that I added another to

my portfolio and am looking for

more. My shops are around the West

Midlands and in the best locations.

Tell us a little about your newest

store?

It’s in a shopping parade in Quinton,

Birmingham. I’ve invested

£250,000 into this shop and it is a

complete refurbishment of an

existing unit and the unit next door.

The store is 3,000 sq ft and was only

opened last October. It is a brand

new store and a fully-fledged mini

supermarket. It looks really good,

clean and ultra-modern.

Why did you pick this area?

The parade has been closed down for

years because of businesses going

under so the place looked a right

state before I built this store. It was

just vacant and a-bit of an eyesore

but I saw potential in the place. I

drove past the place a few times and

could see that a large c-store would

really serve the area well. Previ-

ously, customers would have to get a

bus for 20mins to the nearest big

grocery store.

How is business going now?

It’s been hard with Brexit making

everyone hold on to their pennies,

&

Me My

STORE

in association with

but the first six month’s takings

were higher than we expected, so I

am very happy. The good thing is the

refurbishment created a lot of

attention with locals, passers by and

the press, so the word about the

‘new shop coming to town’ has

already been doing the rounds for a

while.

That has clearly had an effect

because a lot of people have passed

through the doors since it opened.

Hopefully the good standards, wide

range, low price, promotions and

friendly customer service will keep

them coming back.

What do you plan to do in the

community?

I’ve always liked my stores to be part

of the community rather than just

another brand on the high street.

Whenever I came to see the site

during construction I would let

locals know that I would be employ-

ing local people as staff. We have

scores of CVs handed to us and I’m

happy to say quite a few of them

were eventually employed.

The other major thing I’m doing

is helping locals start their own

businesses on the parade. When I

bought the store I also bought

adjacent units that were empty. I

want to lease them out to anybody

local who wants to start a business

that isn’t related to my shop. I

already have some ideas from

people about beauty salons and

hairdressers so hopefully they will

work out and we can all get the

parade back to the buzzing place it

was many years ago.

Abdullha Ali

Me & My Store1.indd 59 5/4/2017 9:45:59 AM