Charlie Henderson

Charlie Henderson
Rhonda and Charlie Henderson

Charlie and Rhonda Henderson have run the Townparks Service Station on the main road into the town since 1998.

The 24-hour Maxol/Spar – which was entirely redeveloped in 2008 – collected the Best Deli in NI at the recent Maxol TLC Retail Awards.

The venue is also scheduled to be the first outlet in Northern Ireland to be fitted-out with Maxol’s new food and beverage offering, Moreish, which will be rolled out later this year.

Charlie and Rhonda also run Spar Parkhall, a 3,000 sq ft convenience store on Antrim’s Parkhall estate. The pair bought the former Mace site in 2005 before re-branding it to Spar and Charlie says that turnover at the 3,000 sq ft site has virtually doubled since then.

Rhonda was already working at Townparks Service station in the late 90s for its former owner, John McCollum, when the opportunity to take the premises on first presented itself.

John had taken the decision to move on from the site into a new line of work and operator, Maxol, approached Rhonda with the suggestion that she and Charlie take the business on.

At the time, Charlie was working nightshifts in his job as a machinery programmer: “I wasn’t that happy in the job and Rhonda was pregnant with our first child, so I was enthusiastic about the opportunity,” he told Neighbourhood Retailer.

In those days, there was a second, Esso branded forecourt site in close proximity to Townparks on the Ballymena Road.

That site became part of Maxol’s portfolio when the distributor took on Esso’s 13-strong Northern Irish network in 2005 and the building was subsequently cleared to make way for the modern Townparks forecourt which Charlie and Rhonda look after today.

Townparks Service Station, Antrim
Townparks Service Station, Antrim

It boasts a 3,000 sq ft Spar store with a thriving hot and cold food deli as well as Paypoint, Lottery, customer toilets and extensive forecourt services.

The former Townparks site was subsequently demolished to make way for a truck-stop facility.

Like many in retail, the Hendersons haven’t been immune to the recession and Charlie revealed that he and Rhonda had worked very hard to keep both businesses afloat for a long period prior to June last year, when like-for-like growth finally returned.

“I’m not sure what it was that changed at that point, whether it was the weather or people’s mindsets or something else, but things definitely turned around and now we’re looking at 12 per cent growth in Spar Parkhall,” he said.

“Because of the nature of the business, the growth at Townparks is smaller, perhaps two or three per cent.

“In terms of the economy, I think things are getting better slowly but surely. I tend to think of it in terms of ‘white van man’. There wasn’t a white van man a couple of years ago.

Then last year, he came back and now, he has a couple of workers with him…But I think that everyone has a different experience, everybody’s business is at a different level so it’s hard to make a call on the prospects for every retailer.”

Cash flow has been one of the biggest problems faced by independent retailers, says Charlie, and he says that the banks have to take their share of the blame – they have failed to understand the nature or the challenge of businesses such as his, he argues.

“They’re trying to take people’s livelihoods away from them and to control their businesses,” he added.

Rhonda Henderson (centre) with staff at Townparks Service Station
Rhonda Henderson (centre) with staff at Townparks Service Station

“We were lucky in that we were able to cut our costs at the right time and we proved to the bank that we weren’t foolish, that we were a traditional family business with good values, a good structure and a good cost base. And to be honest, I think that experience has made us better business people and we’re seeing the benefit of that now.”

He understands that the success of his own business depends on a healthy local environment and he supports any measures designed to reduce the administrative burden for retailers and help stimulate local employment.

“The more people that we have in work, the more people there are spending money and the more self-financing our society becomes,” he remarked. “When there’s more money about in the economy, more people get a turn.”

As for he and Rhonda, they have no immediate plans for expansion at either of their sites.

“Looking to the future, I think we are more likely to invest a little more in the sites that we have and in replacing some of the fixtures and fittings.”

And from a personal perspective, Charlie has no intention of switching careers again: “I thank God every day that I get up and I have this job,” he said. “There aren’t many people who are able to say that.”

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*Pictured top is Rhonda (left) and Charlie Henderson