07 January 2008, 17:35 PM
  • Andy Parritt at the Purely Cornish Deli and Farm Shop, in Looe, reflects on a difficult Christmas and looks ahead

Business, like the weather, seems to be becoming more extreme and unpredictable and Purely Cornish has had a rollercoaster ride over the last few months.

The Looe and Polpero area in Cornwall is dominated by visitors during the holiday periods and the location of the deli, in an old 16th century bakery with clomb oven and low oak-beam ceilings, is ideal to attract the holiday makers wanting to taste a bit of Cornwall or take home a gift. The trick for us has been to also appeal to the locals to get us through those ‘out of season’ times – this was one of the reasons we expanded this year by also taking on a farm shop on the outskirts of the town.

November was, not to put too fine a point on it, dreadful, but it did give us a chance to focus our attention on sourcing some great festive stock. We also started a PR campaign aimed at the locals with hand-delivered leaflets, adverts in local press, articles in the community and parish newsletters and stands at five different Christmas fayres in the area.

By mid-December, however, we were becoming increasingly anxious because, despite all of the above, shop takings were significantly down on last year. The saving grace was our internet sales on www.purelycornish.co.uk, which went through the roof with orders for hampers. With one week to run before the big day we convinced ourselves that because Christmas was on a Tuesday, locals were leaving things to the last weekend and, as all the holiday makers would arrive at the same time, the world would go mad.

On the Saturday we got in extra staff; we pumped ourselves up; we put on free mulled apple juice and… Nothing. I did, however, take a call from a friend who had just given up trying to get into the local supermarket as they were queuing to even get into the car park! And, although we did have a very good day on Christmas Eve, we decided we had no option but to open again on Boxing Day and all the way through to the New Year to sell out the extra cheese and handmade pies that we had ordered.

So what are the lessons learnt? Because the supermarkets do not expect to have to order anything in advance anymore, the internet is a facet of the business that must become our focus. Finally, customer service and presentation is key.

I would more than welcome hearing your experiences 01503262680 or andy@purelycornish.co.uk.