Desert Island Stores: Paul Hargreaves, founder and CEO of Cotswold Fayre
In this latest Desert Island Stores interview, Glynn Davis chats with Paul Hargreaves, founder and chief executive of Cotswold Fayre.
The store you remember from childhood?
The store I most remember from my primary school years was the local Co-op in Sale, Greater Manchester. This was the closest thing to a supermarket in the 1970s but was on a much smaller scale than today’s stores. I remember trailing around with my mum and putting stuff in the trolley when she wasn’t looking, most of which was removed before we reached the till.
Subscribe to TRBFor some reason I most remember the cereal aisle, where my brother, sister and I had some choice on what was bought, but I think we were probably steered towards the healthier options rather than the sugary treats we really wanted. Both my parents were doctors so there was a health emphasis on what we ate as children, even then.
The most exciting aspect of that store was that it gave away Green Shield Stamps based on spend and I remember taking hours sticking the stamps into the books, for which our reward was choosing some presents from the catalogue when enough books had been filled. For those too young to know, Green Shield Stamps were a forerunner of today’s reward loyalty cards.
Most inspirational store to your career?
This is such a tricky one to answer as our wholesale business, Cotswold Fayre, supplies most of the best food and drink stores across the UK, so I am spoilt for choice here. In fact, when we opened our own store, Flourish, in 2021 it was inspired by the best that my business partner and I had seen in food halls and farm shops across the UK. So, at the risk of offending many of our customers I will choose a store outside the UK. I was massively inspired when visiting the first Eataly store in New York around 15 years ago and remain inspired to this day, having been in there again only a couple of months ago. The way food retail and eating and drinking on-site is all mixed together creates a fabulous environment as does the theatre of the mozzarella-making in-store. The combination of food retail complementing the kitchen is something we try and emulate at Flourish.
Most frequently used store?
This is an easy one. For the past four years, since we existed, I always make sure I am in one of our two Flourish stores on a Friday, so I can do the ‘big shop’ ready for the weekend. I’ll confess that I never did the food shopping until I became a shopkeeper because whenever I went to the supermarket I ended up price-checking the items within our wholesale range and looking out for new products and it all became too much like work. So now that I am shopping in our own shops my wife is delighted as it’s a job off her ‘to do’ list. I have the same staff discount as our 110 retail employees of 30% and this is an even greater incentive. The downside is that it takes twice as long as I end up straightening out products and filling gaps on the shelves as I shop!
The store you wished you’d created?
Ocado. Around 2001 we started an online store called Real Food Direct to make available to the general public all our wholesale products by the individual item together with food hampers. If only I had employed some technical people to make this business better, and had a better technical platform, it was around three years before Ocado and who knows what might have happened. As it happens, Real Food Direct, became a distraction to the wholesale business and we ditched it after a few years. Ocado are doing it better than we ever could, and I love their focus on small food brands alongside the mainstream groceries.
Your overall favourite store?
This would have to be Wholefoods, specifically the Kensington store in London, which has captured more of the essence of the Wholefoods stores in US cities due to its size and abundance. It’s a fabulous shopping experience and the merchandising is better than most. Having dealt with them since the start as a supplier, they have always been courteous, friendly and fair in working with us as a supplier, which increases the feel-good factor for me.
The store you’d like to take to the desert island?
Presumably online stores are out as deliveries may be challenging on a desert island? If I can’t say all of the above, then it will have to be a London department store, where I can buy, food, clothes, and other essentials. Let’s say Selfridge’s due to its longevity and it was started by an entrepreneur. The brand activation in-store is fantastic so I could continue to learn whilst on the desert island.
