Lots of retailers claim to be ‘born and bred’ into the shopkeeping life but one who quite literally was is Karan Patel (KP) who, just hours after birth, was nestled in his mother’s arms behind the counter of his parents’ store. Much like KP himself, the business has grown in leaps and bounds since that auspicious first day – with KP having spearheaded an array of game-changing developments to the family business in the last six years since he finished university and launched himself into retailing proper. Thanks to KP’s acquisitive drive, the business, which he now heads up, boasts four phenomenally successful stores, all located within the same Leeds postcode. Included in this punchy portfolio is the quite literally head-turning KP’s Mini Market which re-opened as a new-concept Premier following a show-stopping development in November 2024. The top-to-bottom refit was inspired by a transformational development of one of KP’s other sites: KP’s Local on nearby Throstle Lane one year prior. “That refit was a gamechanger,” KP explains. “I have a really strong relationship with my Premier RDMs and the wider Premier team and had complete confidence that they would deliver, which they certainly did.”

The success of that earlier refit saw KP offering “a blank canvas” to his trusted Premier team and Omega Retail Services, for the development of KP’s Mini Market, which has been in the family fold since 2015. The 1,500sq ft store is primely located just off the busy M261 which leads directly to the nearby M1 and M62 motorways, making it a magnet for passing trade. “It’s also close to a number of local schools and is on the fringe of a large council estate, so we also see a lot of regular faces in addition to all the commuters and passers-by,” KP explains. The first thing you notice when you walk inside the store now is a bright and airy open space. There’s also a clear line of visibility straight into the heart of the store from the outside. It’s amazing the difference that the open space and increased visibility has made to the look and feel of the store. “Passers-by and existing regular shoppers alike can so clearly see the full breadth of our incredible new offer.” KP’s incredible new offer includes a custom-made Beer Cave towards the front of the store and a footfall-driving Refresh@Premier bar. “The old store offered nothing in the way of food- or drinks-to-go, so that was another thing we were determined to put right with this refit,” he adds. The revamped store’s Refresh@Premier offer includes Jolly Rancher and Fruit Salad slush machines, Think Fresh Shakes, Reese’s hot chocolate and both hot and iced drinks from Costa’s new integrated self-serve machine.

Shoppers can also treat themselves to a vast selection of delicious local cakes and pastry products to go, courtesy of local bakery Ortons. Housed in a large chilled Cossiga unit at the till point, the local cake offer has become a runaway success, with KP’s weekly bakery bill for his Mini Market store alone already costing in the region of £1,000 a week. And while the new store doesn’t currently offer hot food to go, a customer kettle and microwave allows shoppers to heat up chilled goods or noodles pots. “Our vastly extended chilled food offer also includes the Premier Mega Meal Deal of five items for £5.50,” KP explains, “and shoppers can’t resist the great value and choice that it offers them. Interestingly Meal Deal sales are even bigger online than they are in store though! A lot of our shoppers work from home, or from local businesses and they order them for home delivery. Some shoppers will even order from us two and sometimes three times a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner! We have one shopper who regularly places large orders twice a day, because he loves our range and service. Just yesterday he ordered more than £30-worth of food in the morning and then another £40-worth in the afternoon!” KP grins.

The store has partnered with Snappy Shopper for its delivery service, with KP even having invested in a fully-branded Citroen DS3 – complete with personalised numberplate to turbo-drive local awareness. The service, which he also promotes heavily on social media, is proving to be a phenomenal success – making more than £4,500 in its first week alone. “Fresh and chilled has been another huge change and one which shoppers are also delighted with,” KP adds. “We only sold four fresh products before: cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms and peppers. Now we have a full two-metres of it, including local potatoes as well as all the great-value Jack’s lines. In addition to that, we have a further five metres for chilled foods including the ready meals, deli items and dairy. Shoppers can now do full basket shops here – and they are! Prior to the refit, shoppers would just pick up a handful of items but now they will automatically pick up a basket, or even a basket on wheels, as soon as they enter. The baskets on wheels have been another gamechanger and something I’d wholeheartedly recommend to other stores. As a shopper, once your hand-held basket starts to get heavy, you’re going to head to the tills, but you’ve got one on wheels, you don’t notice the weight – meaning that shoppers who use those tend to browse for longer and buy more.”

Another of KP’s “gamechangers” is a backlit Premier fascia. “I can’t emphasize the positive impact of a backlit fascia enough,” he says. “It looks so great at night, and I would highly recommend it to other retailers, especially those in high street settings like mine, where there is a lot of traffic passing by.” The new store also incorporates an array of deeply personal touches, including a feature wall adorned with old family photos, which highlights the family’s long and close bond with the LS10 postcode. “We’ve been trading in this area for a really long time now and we wanted to emphasise that this is a community store that is there for its shoppers,” KP adds. And shoppers are certainly there for the store too, with overall sales having soared since the refit and grown every single week since re-opening in early December 2024. “They love the store’s clean, modern and spacious new look and they adore the new range and all the footfall drivers we’ve added,” says KP. “We’ve also launched with a powerful new promotional offer. I’m doing every single Premier deal, including all the optional ones. When you do a full refit, you want that big ‘wow factor’ and the deals deliver that." “I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved. But what makes me truly happy is that I’m making my parents proud too, and in an industry that they worked so hard in.”