Bargain Booze/Thoroughgoods Franchise

[IWYS]

Does anyone have/or know someone who has experience with this franchise? Would one thrive in a rural village? As some of you may have read my thread about a newsagents, we have come across this franchise, with the convenience side of Bargain Booze too.

Any experiences or advice on this sort of franchise would be appreciated. Just wondered with them clamping down on selling cheap alchohol if this would be a bad area to get into?

 

[JohnnyCash]

Whats the upside of a franchise in this line of business?

If you opened a Subway franchise I could see the benefit - instant branding and people know that product. You can only get a subway sandwich from a subway shop...

A cheap bottle of Budweiser is a cheap bottle of Budweiser - whether your window said "Bargain Booze" or "IWYS Alcohol" wouldn't interest me at all... I know the product is exactly the same. I can't imagine people have any brand loyalty to where they buy their alcohol. They'll buy wherever is cheapest/most convenient since they all sell the same thing anyway surely?

 

[IWYS]

Would a franchise deal offer me cheaper cost prices on products though, as they will buy on a larger scale? If i bought from distribution i would not buy as much and get higher cost prices?

 

[IWYS]

I have also seen www.premier-stores.co.uk and there are no franchise fee's involved??

 

[NSP5]

Friend of mine has a bargain booze which does well for him.

Its down the road from a sainsburys, so misses out on the middle class clientele who get from there, but picks up plenty of passing trade from youngsters who know its deals on cheap cans....also helps that he has a chip shop next door.

The benefits are the relatively lower costs of getting the stock in, you'll have access to suppliers/lower prices that a standard offy wouldnt

 

[JohnnyCash]

The benefits are the relatively lower costs of getting the stock in, you'll have access to suppliers/lower prices that a standard offy wouldnt

When I lived in Scotland, the local newsagent bought all of his beer in Tesco

 

[Psl]

When I lived in Scotland, the local newsagent bought all of his beer in Tesco

That is exactly what my pal does who owns a bar with no brewery tie, and he makes a very very good margin on each bottle of beer sold.
The prices will not be the same in the off licence but you should still make a profit.

 

[IWYS]

Your friend that has a Bargain Booze...did he have to stump up everything at once? Franchise fee, shop fitting cost, etc.

If we did this it would have to be the Bargain Booze, select convenience as i feel the convenience side of the business would do well. However they state in their brochure that £25,000 - £100,000 for shop fitting (used to be a convenience store so not sure if that helps) £1,900 franchise fee and about £30,000 stock. I assume the £30,000 stock and £1,900 franchise fee would be upfront, but how about the shop fitting?

The shop i have in mind is £30,000 per annum. Bargain Booze have estimated £25,000 t/o per week at that location (i dont know how they have predicted that) with a 16% margin. With the rents in mind do you think it could be worthwhile?

 

[Yunabuckle]

Does anyone have/or know someone who has experience with this franchise? Would one thrive in a rural village? As some of you may have read my thread about a newsagents, we have come across this franchise, with the convenience side of Bargain Booze too.

Any experiences or advice on this sort of franchise would be appreciated. Just wondered with them clamping down on selling cheap alchohol if this would be a bad area to get into?

Hi there

I have no experiance of this particular franchise, but I am a franchise owner and I think you have to carefully look at what they are offering you. After a slow initial start the results now are purely self driven by us and not the franchisor who has taken a back seat. We are at a good level now though.

Good luck if you do go ahead!

 

[SamStones]

The shop i have in mind is £30,000 per annum. Bargain Booze have estimated £25,000 t/o per week at that location (i dont know how they have predicted that) with a 16% margin. With the rents in mind do you think it could be worthwhile?

I know very little about B&M retail but that figure of 25k a week turnover seems a little high? Assuming you are open 7 days a week it's £3,500 a day in takings , 12 hours a day is £300 an hour and that's £15 every 5 mins. Just seems a lot to me? The earlier respondents from this sector should give a better idea if that's practical or not?

 

[QuickHomeBuyers]

Shop fitting finance is usually leased. Just make sure you dont even get a quote from UNO. This is probably the sixth time they have gone bust.

Anybody who says Tesco's beer is cheaper than cash and carry is pure rubbish. Tesco beer bottle is only cheaper when bought in 3 for £20 like deals, which again is 3 per customer so no good for trade so unless you can buy 3 from each store its not viable.

 

[IWYS]

I was talking to someone who said to raise money for this kind of venture it would be good to advertise membership before the store opened. He thinks you could get 1,000 local residents from the village, its a large village to pay £50 for a year membership. Thats less than £1 per week, and offer them 10% discount on everything in store and offer FREE Delivery.

What do you guys think? Would this be possible. They did something similar with 'The Peoples Supermarket' if i remember correctly. £50,000 would cover the set-up fee and the stock costs.

 

[BizPal]

My company offers franchise opportunities and I would suggest that if the franchise fee is just £1,900 the success of your business will be 99% down to you. That's fine if you have the experience, drive and determination to be successful.

Sounds like you are buying a business format franchise not a brand franchise (which would usually be at least 20 times that price) and will/should be benefitting from some training and support, established business process systems, a supply network and savings on going through the learning curve, as opposed to local/national brand awareness which you will be responsible for.

I would just be very wary of committing to a brick and mortar outlet in the current climate. Cash is king and you need to be able to survive failure if it happens. A huge upfront investment in shopfitting and 30K annual lease could be a real liability. Is there no way of offering such a service via mobile delivery from online ordering maybe? Not my field so that may be way off the mark. Good luck.

 

[Laura @ Altius Group]

Hi IWYS,

I work for a company called KingsBusinessTransfer, which specialises in sale / acquisition of businesses, specialising mainly in retail and food. (We've sold more Bargain Booze outlets than any other broker on the market ...okay okay, that's the last of the subliminal selling, I promise!)

I won't go over what's already been said, but to add to the very good points made by others, here's my bit:

We sell lots of franchised businesses (Nisas, Subways etc) and Bargain Booze is by far our most popular franchise - I think that's pretty telling in itself, people aren't usually wrong en masse! I'd also really recommend BB with the Thoroughgoods element- Grocery stores are one of the few industries triumphing at the moment (boring sales bit from IGD: Convenience stores are the fastest growing sub sector within the Grocery market, and grew more than the Grocery market as a whole last year. They enjoyed a 4.9% sales boost too, and sales are expected to grow considerably over the next 5 years.)

Someone said that people are unlikely to be loyal to where they buy their alcohol- and they were right - but people are much more loyal about where they buy their groceries.

Also, (and I don't mean to offend anyone by saying this!) a Bargain Booze is one of the easier franchises to run, as opposed to say a Post Office (where you have to pass an exam before you can buy one) or something like a McDonalds or a Subway, where there are lots of processes to be learnt, and new staff will require lengthier training. There's obviously all the other advantages of franchising; training etc etc.

As for the rural element you mentioned- I guess that's a case of what other competition there is in the area etc. Also, be wary of the reaction of locals - I don't live anywhere particularly rural or picturesque (far from it, I live just outside Blackpool!!) and when a Bargain Booze opened in my area there were a few petitions. The Bargain Booze went ahead regardless and has been successful, but if by 'rural' you mean tight knit, maybe it would be a good idea to test local reaction before you commit to anything?

Finally, from a personal rather than a business perspective, my next door neighbour owns 3 BB & Thoroughgoods sites, and he couldn't rave about them more. He also owns a Nisa, but says he much prefers Bargain Booze.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Laura

 

[mhall]

Convenience stores are the fastest growing sub sector within the Grocery market, and grew more than the Grocery market as a whole last year. They enjoyed a 4.9% sales boost too, and sales are expected to grow considerably over the next 5 years.)

How much of that is Tesco express I wonder ?

 

[P_F_S]

I have also seen www.premier-stores.co.uk and there are no franchise fee's involved??

I think this is bookers brand, a customer our ours brands his up as premier, does very well. Another customer of ours was branded up as bargain booze, he has since binned it, still has the shop.

 

[Testimony]

If your location is a village setting, the constraining factor is the footfall. In a Village this figure is important.

Franchisors generally quote average figures, to justify their claims, but havingn a franchise in Emmerdale is different than having one in Hollyoaks.

Hollyoaks type environment would probably achieve the footfall, but a rural setting wouldn't. If I were in the country and wanted a bottle at 10.30, I would visit your establishment, but if I lived in a semi town setting, I would go to Tescos

A friend of mine sells alcohol in a village setting, and he probably pays more for his supplies, but if he had to finance franchise fees/display units etc he would run at a loss as there isn't the quantity of potential customers.

If I am wanting a bottle of Smirnoff, I don't care if the vendor is Bargain Bozze, Tesco or the local taxi company . Smirnoff tastes great and Smirnoff pay their own brand advertising. So hence I will go to the cheapest place which probably will be Tescos/Sainsburys

If I want a Subway type lunch, I will go to nearest Subway as THEY are the brand owners and I can rely on SUBWAY to provide the standard sandwich, not the franchisee

 

[steve1404]

most small stores take up to 11k a week and you have to buy everything fromm bb most profit is cal at 14% then on top off that you have the staff to pay rent gas elec b/rates etc

bb monitor your tills and you have to pay them monthly for the system all promo material is supp by them but again at cost to you

if you are thinking about it weigh up all the pros and cons and ask yourself why are so many up for sale ?????????????????????????????????????

my advice go for a small independent and negotiate discouts via the brewerys when i was in the pub game for many years i was getting 150.00 a bareel discout and then retro worked in to that .

all volume ie bottles tinnies wine etc the brewery will covert to barrels

 

[bjp101173]

As A franchisee I would strongly advise anyone taking up a franchise to walk away. The company is in turmoil!

A real contempt for existing franchisees, they abuse the retro system often failing to pay franchisees without warning! margins are nothing like what they suggest. They wont tell you what the margin is, they used to hide behind the excuse they dont want their competitors to know what terms they were being supplied. Now they say its not on our best interests as our staff will also know our margin!