William’s Noble aim in new business
Embarking on his first foray into retail, William Noble has hit the ground running. Here he tells NR about opening his store, Nearby Curran Road and his plans for the future.
As with so many when they take their first step into employment, William’s working life began in retail when he was a student, working in Dunnes Stores in his late teens.
Subsequently going onto work in the construction industry, he later set out on his own to work in the hospitality sector.
Having run a number of bars and restaurants for several years, at one time William was responsible for overseeing the running and organisation of five bars and restaurants. Now running one pub in Larne, he realised he wanted to concentrate his focus within his own community.
“I wanted to invest and consolidate myself a bit more in the area and so looked into setting up a new business,” said William.
“I saw the business for sale and it was timed nicely with wanting to get into another business and so I made contact about the sale and after that it was a very fast turnaround, a bit of a baptism of fire!”
While the shop was already branded and established in the area, William knew he wanted to take his own approach and put his own stamp on it and so began the process of seeing what options were out there and ultimately led to him getting in touch with the team at Nearby.
“I took it over in March this year and I have to admit the first two months were a bit crazy, but the guys at Nearby have been absolutely amazing,” said William.
“They have been amazingly supportive. They came in and were able to get exactly what I had been looking for, even down to a specific till system. Once we got the till system in, a couple of days later they came down and started working on merchandising the shop.
“The shop had been operating as normal throughout this time, so there was no downtime at all. They sent a team down who looked at the shop layout and we flipped some things around into different areas. We have streamlined the products to tie in with this and we now have an extra 300 to 400 products available from when we took over.”
And although it is still early days for William, he has been very impressed with the changes made to the shop and what this means for him as a retailer and also for his customers.
“I felt it was important that we had some sort of identity and one with a symbol group,” added William.
“Their service levels and the regular deliveries are fantastic. The extended range of products and the promotions they run are also really good; there is a three-week cycle of promotions giving customers a better range of value and promotions.
“One of the other things I have loved about Nearby is their own product range – Go Local. We have done quite a bit of that in the shop and this has also given our customers more options and cheaper options. Their range includes all ambient products, such as tea, coffee, sugar, jams as well as soda water, tonic water, diluting juice and dog and cat food. It’s quite an extensive range and has given that added variety and more affordable options for our customers.
“The response so far from customers has been excellent. They are pleased with our levels of product availability, how the store is easy to shop in and the fact there are new options to choose from with new products, ready meals and a butchery range which is produced locally. People are really buying into it,” added William.
With a four-pump Nicholl Fuels forecourt at the site, Nearby Curran Road offers a stand-out position for themselves, as they are the only filling station in the Larne area which opens 24 hours a day with prepaid pumps in operation.
Another perk of working with Nearby for William is the opportunity to source a wide range of products from a variety of local producers and suppliers.
“They do not push anything at you, there is a full service there if you need it, but I can also go anywhere else to get new and local suppliers if I want,” said William.
“We are very big in confectionery and soft drinks, they are the real big sellers for us. We also have your everyday essentials, including bread and bakery products, and we have a local bakery in, Ann’s Pantry which is proving popular, and Rowandale Milk, which has a returnable bottle scheme in place. We have increased the numbers of that quite distinctively; it’s becoming more and more popular for us and is a big seller.”
