Store gallery: B&Q opens Local c-stores in high street push

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DIY specialist B&Q has opened its first two smaller-format Local convenience stores as it plans to sharpen its focus on the high street.

B&Q opened its first two Local fascias in Camden and Palmers Green, north London, at the end of January.

The retailer has outlined plans to focus on a resurgent high street after deciding to cut its concession tie-up with supermarket chain Asda.

The Local store in Camden is 3,733 sq ft and offers 3,500 products in-store as well as more than 30,000 products for home delivery or click and collect.

Services offered in B&Q Local stores include paint-mixing, kitchen and bathroom design, click and collect, in-store ordering, key cutting and waste electrical and electronic equipment recycling.

B&Q strategy and development director Chris Bargate told Retail Week: “Areas like paint-matching and the slimmed-down showroom, combined with the click-and-collect offer, mean we can offer a real breadth of products in a very small space and really offer customers a feel for our extended range of products but in a more convenient location.”

Alongside the two new Local formats, B&Q has a further six non-Local branded, smaller-format high street stores around London, which are at Holloway Road, Wandsworth, Tooting, Wood Green, Harrow and Streatham.

B&Q said future Local stores would all be under 5,000 sq ft, have a single-floor sales area and offer approximately 3,500 SKUs.

Bargate said: “Our ‘test-and-learn’ approach is an important part of building our strategy and our aim to create consistent, small-store-format blueprints that can be scaled further across the UK.

“We’re continually listening to our customers and colleagues to take learnings to evolve the shopping experience in these smaller stores.”