JW Filshill expands English presence

Scottish wholesaler JW Filshill is to expand its presence in England as it continues to “receive a pipeline of stores” for its KeyStore fascia. 

The wholesaler oper­ates 11 of its 200 symbol group stores south of the Scottish border. JW Filshill chief sales and market­ing officer Craig Brown told RN: “We’ve seen a lot of growth on the east side of the Pennines, but there’s an opportunity on the west. We’ve got an operation out of Newcastle which can help us with this and we’ve made good investment with person­nel over the years. 

“Two of our latest ap­pointments are ex-Palmer & Harvey and they know this area well. We have a pipeline of stores there and enquiries which we’re working on all the time.” 

Convenience boosts JW Filshill turnover

Brown also told Better Retailing the wholesaler would be moving its distribution to a new site in Renfrew this year – 33% larger than its current depot. Retailers will also be receiving planograms and improved support tailored to improving space and meeting the demands of anti-obesity legislation. 

“We need to understand what space we’ve got across the stores and what products we need to fill those,” Brown added. “The new layouts are designed to help modernise the existing estate. It’s also important we get ahead of the game for any govern­ment legislation.” 

New promotion bans on unhealthy lines are set to take effect from October this year.