The first fully-refitted One Stop Franchise store in Scotland opened for business last month following what the One Stop team called an ‘instant launch conversion’.
Sam Ali’s store is on George Street, Glasgow – to the east of George Square in the city centre.
It’s on a busy main road site next to a bus stop at the heart of Strathclyde University, close to faculty buildings and halls of residence.
It ran as a Co-op before Sam bought the store in April this year. She originally operated it under the Best-one fascia, but took the decision to switch to One Stop following the Tesco-owned franchise and managed store chain’s announcement that it was extending its operations into Scotland.
The sales area of the 1,700 sq ft unit carries One Stop’s chilled, frozen and ambient ranges, and has an off-licence.
It features One Stop’s programme of promotions and offers including its meal deals –lunchtime 3 items for £3 and evening meals 3 for £6.
Sam has also developed her own new food-to-go concept to meet strong demand at lunchtime. MIY stands for ‘Make it Yourself’ – customers choose components separately and create their own product.
Sam Ali said: “This is a really ambitious project for us, but we know we’ve chosen the right retail partner to work with. One Stop’s product ranges, regular promotions and the permanent offers on lunchtime and evening meal deals are ideal for our customer base. We already have plans for an additional store and we’re looking forward to growing our business with One Stop.”
One Stop franchise director, Andrew King, said: “It’s great to open our first fully-branded franchise store in Scotland and have a ‘franchise in action’ to show to interested retailers. Sam is a really progressive retailer and keen to develop both her George Street store and potential future sites – she’s a fantastic advert for One Stop.”
