Oxfordshire retailer Sarah Redley opened the doors to her newly recalibrated Morrisons Daily Peachcroft store in Abingdon.
So far so good - but the story develops further once you learn Sarah chose to switch over from Budgens to Morrisons Daily as part of a £150k spend - ending the store’s partnership with the the former supplier after 40 years.
Sarah says the switch was prompted, in part at least, by a need to better cater for her customers following the pandemic. “The store manager took retirement in 2022 and at this time the store had come off a strong trading period during Covid as everyone was shopping local.
“But that went the opposite way as shopping trends moved back to larger supermarket trollies and a focus on price. This was detrimental to us at Peachcroft. Despite our large store we just couldn’t compete on price and range.”
The larger scale of the store meant Sarah wasn’t even sure at first if Morrisons Daily would be the right format for Peachcroft. “We’d been looking at alternatives but the size of our store was always the sticking point. I also took the decision to move to Morrisons to be able to offer that supermarket feel whilst still being a convenience offering.”
It wasn’t a snap decision either, Sarah says: “We initially intended to go down the route of a Together With Morrisons model, which a few Budgens retailers with similar sized stores to ours have done.
“The appeal of this would have been greater flexibility to offer our own products, alongside the core Morrisons brand. This has been a very successful model for so many retailers I’ve spoken with but the final decision for me came down to the fact that Peachcroft is a community store.”
‘Community’ is a word that crops up repeatedly when Sarah speaks about the Peachcroft store - and the change of supplier was inspired largely by a need to satisfy local shoppers, she says. “We’ve always been at the heart of the community but we couldn’t offer what the customer needed.
“I was amazed how few customers were coming through the door…”
“Following the store manager’s retirement I spent a lot more time in store and was amazed how few customers were coming through the door, given our location in the middle of an ever-growing housing estate.”
After opening last Friday, the priority for the store is to fine tune ranges, offers and deals for shoppers. “We needed to be able to offer the customer price and value confidence, the Morrisons promotional range - and more importantly we’re now able to offer the More card to our customers. All these factors we hope will promote loyalty and confidence in the store,” Sarah says.
“Our main core offer will remain the same, though. We’ve always had a strong fresh mix and that will now grow to include the Morrisons meat, dairy and bakery range. Our instore bakery will be a huge focus - we’re dedicating over four metres to it.”
Other changes at the newly revamped store include layout, a process which began some time ago too. Sarah says: “We initially replaced our entire till and back office system in September 2025 to supplier Point 4 as our previous system was incompatible with Morrisons.
“At this point we also put in two self-service tills. We did this prior to the move in order for the team and customers to get the hang of the new system in advance. The self-service tills were an instant success with at least 30% of daily transactions going through them.
“I took the decision to make the store fresher and cleaner for the customer to signify a fresh chapter.”
“We’ve also replaced the ceiling to a black tile throughout and improved the lighting, painted the walls and reorganised our existing shelving to offer a more open, fresh looking store.
”The whole investment has been around £150k and that’s a significant figure given where the store has been. I took the decision to make the store fresher and cleaner for the customer to signify a fresh chapter.”
Following the opening, Sarah says she and her team are continuing to react to evolving customer needs. “Customer confidence if always our main concern. Obviously, being a Daily, we won’t be able to compete with a supermarket on price but we can certainly do our best.
“I’m looking forward to being able to have confidence in the store and what we can offer. Since getting more involved in the store I’ve seen that we can do more for the area and I’m looking forward to being able to do that now.”
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