Her Frankmarsh store in Barnstaple, North Devon, has a full programme of events for National Independents' Week and this has been added to with the announcement that Charles Wilson, chief executive of Booker, will be visiting her shop on Saturday June 9th.

Saturday is the Fun Day event, with competitions and challenges linked into the themes from the week. Wilson plans to attend in the afternoon and Lesley aims to have him spending time serving and talking to customers. She said: "This is a good opportunity for market research. To find out what Booker can do for its customers in the future." Lesley hopes that the VIP visit will generate headlines in local media.

Wilson was keen to visit Lesley after hearing her presentation at the FWD's Annual Conference last week. He said: "Lesley is an outstanding retailer. She has asked for wholesalers to support retailers during National Independents' Week. I and others from Booker are taking her up on the challenge and I look forward to working with Lesley in June."

Lesley told the conference: "On the old National Independents' Day we doubled our takings. It is difficult to estimate the effect it has had on the years trading except for me to say that the MSYS campaign has halted the slowdown in trade that we have experienced in recent years."

l For full coverage of the FWD Annual Conference see next month's issue

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend