The future has arrived in Newmills

Owner of Mace Newmills, Arlene McFarland explains how the Mace ‘Store of the Future’ concept has transformed the community in this small rural town.

When Arlene McFarland took the plunge to open her own store in her hometown four years ago, she imagined that the small Mace premises would be her lifetime work. However, Musgrave introducing the new Mace ‘Store of the Future’ concept last year was the catalyst that encouraged Arlene to move to a bigger site in the same town.

A larger building beside their original Mace shop became available in May 2018 and as the timing coincided with Mace’s fresh new branding, it seemed like the right time to expand for this Tyrone retailer.

“We opened our doors September 5, with a whole newly refurbished shop. The store had been lying vacant for a number of years after the original business closed down. It was a big risk for me but we grew it slowly and have been building it up in response to customer feedback,” says Arlene.

One of the reasons the new store concept appealed to Arlene was that it enabled her to give her customers what they had been asking for – a greater selection of fresh food-to-go, an indoor seating area, and more choice.

“Being in a small village like Newmills we want to be able to give our customers everything they need so they don’t have to go into town. At the end of the day we are more of a basket shop type store but we like to be able to provide a service, so that if somebody is without a car for a week they would be able to do all of their shopping with us.”

Arlene reports that many of their regular customers are pensioners who would’ve previously made a weekly pilgrimage to the nearest multiple by taxi. With Mace Newmill’s extended offering, they can now to do the majority of their shopping in-store with Arlene.

“Our plan is to take the pressure away from our customers,” says Arlene. “Some of our elderly shoppers would do a big shop in Cookstown once a week because they couldn’t afford the taxi run every other day. They probably wasted a lot of food doing this. One customer in particular, told me, that she saves £30 a week in taxi fares by shopping with us. She’s able to come into the shop every day and get everything she wants here. She’s very happy with the situation and she’s quid’s in.”

The new store concept allowed Arlene and the team to focus on their fresh food range and to introduce an improved hot food counter. Since reopening in September with a Munch & Co deli, Arlene reports that sales at lunchtime have increased as the impressive food-to-go range draws in workmen from the surrounding areas. Musgrave’s Frank & Honest coffee station has also been a big hit with the locals.

“Frank & Honest is a beautiful brand and we’ve managed to double our sales since introducing it,” says Arlene. “We had a good coffee machine in our last place and I didn’t want to move to Frank & Honest, but I’m happy to admit I got it wrong.

“In this day and age you have to speculate to accumulate in order to move forward in business. You have to move with the times. The ‘Store of the Future’ is very cutting edge and Musgrave has done a fantastic job in rebranding Mace.”

When the store officially launched, the team cordoned off a small section of the car park and were overwhelmed with gratitude when in excess of 150 locals turned up to help Mace Newmills celebrate.

“Somebody made the comment that you could actually feel the love in the community,” said Arlene. “We are the hub of the village and everybody is talking about us for the right reasons. Before we opened the other shop four years ago it was like a ghost town but since we’ve opened up the new shop it has been a hive of activity.”

Being at the heart of the local community, is something that is very important to Arlene and Mace Newmills. The store is a part of a Neighbourhood Watch scheme and is also a safe space for young people. There is always a first aider in-store to clean up any cuts and scrapes, and if children miss the bus they can stay in the shop until they can be picked up. This year, Mace Newmills plans to become even more involved with the community, by sponsoring the local football team’s kit and partnering with the village’s playgroup to offer support and fundraising throughout the year.

But what really sets this store apart from its competitors, is its customer service, Arlene believes.

“The first thing our staff have to get right is being able to talk to the customer. If you come into the store as a stranger you would think our staff would know you from the way they speak to you.”

While the intensity of Arlene’s own staff training has been praised by others, she states that it’s comforting to know that Musgrave are available as an added support, when it is required.

“I would absolutely recommend Musgrave to retailers thinking of switching. The Mace brand in itself gives you a certain control over what you do. The support from Musgrave has been fantastic – I couldn’t fault them and everyone from the planning stages to the merchandising team has been great.

“I find as a woman you have to shout twice as loud to be heard in this world but where the Musgrave group were concerned they always listened to what I wanted.

“I think for any store that is thinking about refurbishing to the ‘Store of the Future’, they’re more than welcome to come take a look at us because they’ll see exactly where our strengths are and they’ll see what the Musgrave group can do.”