Store managers give success stories to chamber

The managers of two of the newer Llangollen stores have given positive accounts of how their businesses have fared since opening in the town centre.

The success stories were revealed by Steve Jones of Stans on the A5 and Rhian Roscoe of the Edinburgh Woollen Mill to members of the Chamber of Trade and Commerce at their monthly meeting held in the Hand Hotel on Monday evening.

Mr Jones said Stans had opened its store and petrol station on a purpose-built site 18 months ago and had immediately enjoyed a warm welcome.

He told the chamber: “Llangollen is a really special town and we hope the public feels we have helped and contributed to it.”

Part of the success story, he said, was the recent transfer to his store from nearby Castle Street of the Post Office , along with three to four of its staff.

They had now become part of a team of 24 full and part-time staff at Stans, all of whom are local people.

He said the shop prided itself on using a dozen local suppliers, providing home-made lines such as Welsh cakes and sandwiches.

Mr Jones also spoke of the success of the petrol station, explaining: “It has eight pumps which are constantly in operation.

“The amount of traffic on the A5, particularly at this time of the year, is phenomenal.”

A chamber member asked him if the store had lived up to expectations, to which he replied: “The directors are very pleased.”

Asked if Stans viewed the proposed opening of a new Sainsbury’s store just a little further along the A5 as a challenge, he said: “Yes, we see it as a challenge.

“Personally, I don’t think the town needs it but we have been well supported since we opened and I hope we always will be.”

Rhian Roscoe, manager of Edinburgh Woollen Mill, told the chamber: “We have been open for three months now and have had excellent feedback. I can’t say how welcoming the town has been to us.”

Ms Roscoe explained how the store had won favour from both local people and an increasing number of tourists, some of had come from as far away as China, Canada and Australia.

Also pointing out that all of the workforce was local, she said: “If we can keep Llangollen as full of shops as it is at the moment I think our success story will continue.”

One of her aims, she said, was to try to attract more coach parties to the store, which chamber members supported on the basis that this would be good for all the businesses in the town.

Asked by a member if the store would continue to trade throughout the week, Ms Roscoe replied: “At the moment we will carry on trading seven days a week and I don’t think we’ll be closing on Sundays.”

Chamber chairman David Davies said: “We must make sure that when Sainsbury’s do come – and we hear that this will be in the middle of 2015 – we have a viable, strong chamber to fight them on all fronts.”