Record FlowControl running smoothly at Budgens

Award-winning Budgens retailer David Knight owns two stores in West Sussex, one in Hassocks and the other in Henfield. Before opening in Henfield in February 2014, the store underwent a major refurbishment, which included a state-of-the-art heat reclaim system to lower electricity consumption by 30% and sourcing more local suppliers to create an eco-friendly food market for the whole community.

The Dilemma
After the Covid-19 lockdown came into force both stores remained busy. However, to comply with social distancing guidelines meant team members had to supervise the entrance doors during the main trading day period from 8 am to 6 pm, and for 6 hours on a Sunday.

To have someone simply greet customers and allow/deny them entry, cost Budgens approximately £700 in gross wages per week. On top of this management also had the additional task of drawing up daily rotas for both stores to ensure team members took turns monitoring the doors.

The Solution
recordÂ’s FlowControl automatic counting system was installed at Henfield, to take the onus off the management team having to control customer numbers in-store, and enable them to redeploy team members.

The installation took just 2.5 hours to complete and was carried out overnight to avoid disruption to the store. The engineer gave training on how to set the pre-defined number of customers inside along with practical advice on how to manage shift patterns for team members.

Customers have commented on how effective the LED stripes are in showing when it is safe to enter the store and how reassured they feel that Budgens has put a solution in place to help with social distancing.

David Knight, Managing Director said "Our managers love the flexibility of the FlowControl. When the store is congested at the till points they can quickly lower the people count to stop new customers entering temporarily to relieve the pressure on the team, this is particularly effective on a Saturday, our busiest trading day.

David added, “The installation was professionally handled and the system is extremely easy to use. We are so impressed with how well the FlowControl works and the money it has saved, with the payback of the system being under 4 weeks, that we are now installing the FlowControl at our store in Hassocks".