What’s involved in opening a One Stop franchise?

Consider this: 20 percent of us take a trip to a convenience store every day (The Drum). Our shopping habits evolve all the time, but at the moment, the number of people engaging in ‘top up’ shopping is higher than ever. Rather than spending a fortune and dedicating a big chunk of our evening or weekend to the dreaded weekly shop, we are opting to visit convenience shops more frequently throughout the week.

You can find convenience stores everywhere: in a quiet village, at a train station or at the services, for example. Prices can be slightly higher than bigger discount stores, but due to only buying a few items and the handy locations, this doesn’t seem to deter too many potential customers. You can buy all the essentials, including food and drink, toiletries, newspapers, medication and stationery.

So why not capitalise on the lucrative industry and start a convenience store franchise? With there clearly being a market for quick, easy shopping, the demand for such stores will be on the rise. One convenient store franchise that is currently looking to expand its UK franchise network is One Stop.

>> Read more:

• The Best Retail Franchises in the UK
• Understanding Retail Premises
• Start a Retail Franchise With Our Top 3 Convenience Stores
• Own a Retail Franchise That Helps Your Customers to Make Money
• Retail Shops: Develop Your Own with a Franchise

One Stop

One Stop currently operates over 900 shops in the UK, with 180 of these being franchises. More than 10,000 employees are part of the One Stop team and they all play an integral part in local communities.

Therefore, One Stop clearly has a powerful presence in the UK, and you can never be too far from one. This is just one reason why investing in a One Stop franchise is a good idea; if a potential customer recognises your brand name, they are more likely to shop at your business rather than a smaller enterprise they might not trust.

The brand has been recognised for its contribution to the industry and has won ‘Franchise Group of the Year’ twice.

What do I need to open a One Stop franchise?

In order to be considered as a One Stop franchisee, you need to own your own shop at the moment or have already picked one. This can’t be a petrol station, as the One Stop franchise model doesn’t allow for petrol stations to be converted to a One Stop store. You also need have an alcohol licence or be prepared to get one.

All One Stop shops need to be at least 1,000 square feet or be capable of achieving that size through reconstruction. Before applying, make sure your shop fits the required measurements. Also, it’s crucial that stores are currently generating over £10,000 a week in sales to be considered.

One Stop needs to ensure that it can deliver to its new stores, so if your current shop or identified shop is in one of the following postcodes, you can’t apply: AB, BT, DD, GY, HS, IM, IV, JE, PH, TR, WC and ZE.

You also need to be outside of a contract with another store. If you are still in a contract or a partner contract, there has to be no more than six months left.

Why should I open a One Stop franchise?

We’ve established that One Stop has a powerful presence in the UK, and with this comes buying power. Franchisees can, therefore, really make the most of their investment and have access to better margins.

As we touched on earlier, One Stop is dedicated to being a centre point in the local community where customers can bump into friends, be treated with great customer service and buy a range of essential products. Being a thoughtful brand, One Stop will be by your side when your franchise supports local foodbanks and charities. Not only can you get word of your new business out there, but customers will respect the fact that you are trying to make a difference in their community. This, in turn, should lead to increased custom and a surge in sales.

The brand introduced its own label range a couple of years ago, which consisted of more than 400 products to suit a range of tastes and purposes. This includes items that are fresh, frozen, chilled, from the grocery, etc. Customers couldn’t get enough of the more generous sizing of the packaging for a more purse-friendly price. This has had a positive knock-on effect on basket spend and weekly sales.

What’s involved in opening a One Stop franchise?

One of the reasons why One Stop’s franchise model is so popular is because of the extensive support it provides its franchisees. Many interested applicants currently don’t experience sufficient daily support and so turn to One Stop to get what they’ve been missing.

One Stop franchisees will be assigned their own business development manager who has a wealth of experience in the industry and who will visit the store at least once a month. They will be your right-hand man and make sure your business is reaching its full potential in terms of increasing sales and improving margins. The Franchise Helpline is always there to help too if you can’t get through to your business development manager.

One you become a franchisee, One Stop will give you £50,000 to put towards the refurb of the shop and ensure it fits the brand image. When you visit a retail chain, you expect them to be similar. For this reason, your shop’s layout, fittings and technology will match up to the rest of the franchises.

However, One Stop is aware that this might be bit disheartening if you have chosen to turn your existing business into a One Stop franchise. Therefore, it allows you to keep some of the original store’s identity by personalising the shop signage so it still says the previous business’ name. This should also help retain the loyalty of customers of your previous business.

In order to invest, the typical start up cost is only £92 a week. Head to its website today to find out more about the franchise costs and fees and apply.