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Bracknell's retailers reveal secrets to their success - BB's Coffee & Muffins

23/06/06

Since BB’s Coffee & Muffins opened another café on the ground floor level in Princess Square shopping centre in May, sales have been booming. Here we learn the secrets of BB’s success:

“The new café is already establishing a loyal clientele, without affecting sales of the BB’s upstairs,” said Michele Young, UK General Manager for BB’s. “Because of its location on the lower level, we have more customers coming in for takeaway food and drinks, although there are 25 seats for those looking to relax for a while.”

BB’s café stocks award-winning New Zealand Natural premium icecream, sorbets and frozen yoghurt, which is free from preservatives or artificial colourings. “Our ice cream is a big seller – both in cones and cups or in our smoothies and ice coffee drinks – particularly at the weekends when the kids and young people visit the centre.”

BB’s is famous for its fresh muffins, mixed and baked in the café each morning. During the week the most popular muffins are the Chocolate Chip and Raspberry & Apple Crumble, whereas at the weekend younger customers choose the Double Chocolate Chip.

“The people of Bracknell have recognised the quality that we deliver at keen prices,” said Michele. “We are proud of our contribution to making Princess Square a great place for shoppers and workers.”

Party Capers

Anita Guttridge, owner of Party Capers is delighted with her new location on the ground floor of Princess Square. Here she exclusively reveals her formula for success.

“This month we moved to a new location in Princess Square, operating from a kiosk on the ground floor, and we are delighted with the our new home, as it is the right size for our product range and well suited to our needs.

“The new location benefits from a wider footfall – as a destination shop, our previous store attracted many regular customers, while our new location also attracts passers by and potential customers. As a friendly and lively team, we feel this position suits us best, as we are able to interact with more potential customers.

“Most importantly, we feel we are in a much better spot as we can enjoy better interaction and communication with our customers and shoppers in the Centre.

“We have been paying attention to our customers, and responding with our product range and layout on the kiosk. We have also added new services, for example offering a creative and reasonably priced cellophane wrapping service for our customers.

“Our formula is simple – we enjoy interacting with our customers!”

Lowrys Jewellery

Sandra Barkwith is the Manager of Lowrys Jewellery – bespoke jewellers in the heart of Bracknell. She gives her advice on how to make your business work in changing times.

“Lowrys has been in business for 40 years and we are still growing and adapting to our customers needs and wants. Before looking to expand the business, we focused on creating the right range of merchandise for our customer and made organisation a priority. Now we are in a position to grow more and hope to launch a website towards the end of 2006, which will give our customers more flexibility and time to appreciate our range of merchandise, before they even step into the store.

“Of course we will always remain a friendly store that favours a personal and bespoke service, with a fast and reliable turnaround – what our customers have come to expect of us!

“Last year we modernised our range of merchandise, paying attention to our customers and streamlining our range to suit contemporary styles. We now concentrate more on 18-karat gold and designing bespoke pieces with loose diamonds and stones from European stone dealers.

“In line with our new range, we completely modernised the store to create a fresher and lighter environment, which has proven very popular.

“One piece of advice for a successful business? Know what your customer wants and needs and make sure your business aims are targeted in the same direction.”