Cash and carry wholesaler opens on former Sher Bros site
deputy general manager.
CASH and carry wholesaler Bestway Batleys has launched its Glasgow city depot at the former Sher Bros site on Kilbirnie Street.
The depot is said to be fully operational following extensive building work on the site, which the firm purchased in April.
The depot’s 110,000 square foot warehouse is said to house five aisles of beers, four aisles dedicated to wines and spirits and thousands of soft drinks, snacks and impulse lines.
As part of the building work, over 150 metres of freezers are said to have been installed, which stock the frozen retail and foodservice range.
The warehouse is also said to hold a full range of chilled, fresh and bakery produce.
The launch of the Glasgow depot brings the total Batleys Scotland estate to eight depots.
The response from our customers has been nothing short of phenomenal.
Batleys has another 20 depots nationally including three pet warehouses.
These, combined with 35 Bestway depots, brings the group’s total estate to 63 depots across the UK.
Younus Sheikh, managing director of Bestway, said the purchase of Sher Bros “will give the Batleys brand a presence in the heart of the city as well as the depot in Cambuslang which is showing impressive double digit growth in 2014 – and demonstrates the Bestway Group’s commitment to Batleys and Scotland”.
“Sher Bros has been a great wholesale institution over the years and we are confident that under the Batleys brand, we can develop the business both among existing and new customers,” said Sheikh.
Batleys will be running national promotional deals at its depots throughout July and is also encouraging customers to sign up to its ‘Core Connect’ programme, which offers customers a minimum 3% rebate when stocking selected promotional products.
Licensed products included in the Core Connect programme for July include Carlsberg, Foster’s, Strongbow, Kopparberg, Crabbies, Smirnoff, Gordon’s, Bell’s, The Famous Grouse, Chivas Regal and Gallo Wines.
“The first question I was asked when we took over the old Sher business was ‘when are you introducing an alcohol department?’” said David Livingstone, Batleys operations manager for Scotland.
We knew there was a willingness from the trade to buy from Bestway Batleys.
“So I knew that the potential was there and that there was a willingness from the trade to buy licensed from Bestway Batleys. The response from customers has since been nothing short of phenomenal even though we have been working with limited stock – it was just impossible to stock a full licensed range from the space we inherited.
“However we are now fully functional and we believe we have the widest range in the Glasgow area for the licensed trade.”
Livingstone added that in addition to alcohol, the wholesaler also stocks “tens of thousands of lines which retailers and caterers require for their business”.
“Above all due to the £2.5bn buying power of the Bestway Group we are confident that the licensed trade will see a tangible discount in their trolley spend by buying from the new Glasgow depot,” he said.
The opening of the new Glasgow depot is the latest Scottish expansion for Batleys, having purchased both the Bellevue and Martex cash and carry businesses in 2010.
