Post by We Are Retailers

William France Bernies Grocery Store Heaton Moor, Manchester Tell us about your retail journey… Bit of a short journey for us thus far that it is - after being made redundant last year, just as the pandemic started, we decided to open a small food retail shop as this was about the only thing that would still be allowed to trade over continued lockdowns & we wanted to provide an essential service in a community whilst supporting a huge network of the independent producers. For us the journey has been all positive since we opened really, there’s a huge thirst for indie retail & the amazing products we stock. After working in craft beer for over a decade, we see this type of retail really starting to kick on & become more & more of a ‘thing’ like what happened with the normalisation of better beer being sold everywhere. What do you like? For us we are all about the story telling, relaying the amazing contributions to food that the suppliers do, back to our regular customers & being a place that people can come for a chat, like an old school corner shop. I think we’ve really become part of the locals day to day life, it’s really cool. What do you not like? Not much for us to be honest, we are only open 4 days & are focussed on pushing for a better work life balance. cont..