Jempson’s

Battle Jempson’s/Budgens Celebration Day

Our Jempson’s/Budgens supermarket in Battle mark our 75th Anniversary with a Fun Day that also heralded significant improvements within the store itself and also offered fundraising support as well as profile awareness to several local charities.

The day hosted a series of events throughout and attractions included a face painter, Latin style dance demonstration, Pimm’s tent, stalls, BBQ, competitions and a raffle.

There where stalls from Battle Area Community Transport and Brown Bread Horse Rescue amongst others, and the proceeds from the BBQ, along with the accompanying food, where donated to the Battle Bonfire Boyes, the town Mayor David Hussey attended to cut a specially commissioned Anniversary cake.

A local school competition was held to design a special ’75th Anniversary’ birthday card, prizes included a set of family tickets to Yesterday’s World, a group ticket for a Jempson’s Bakery Tour at the Peasmarsh Superstore and book vouchers.

The in-store raffle raised £200 which was donated to the Daniel Gamble Memorial Fund, who will use the donation for a much needed new War Memorial flag pole.

Adam Johnson Event Organiser said, ‘We had a wonderful day, and are delighted that our event helped raise awareness to some of our local charities as well as some much deserved fundraising. We would like to thank all of the local business that supported the day by way of donations and prizes, the local community and customers for their continued support’.

Stephen Jempson added ‘Our Battle supermarket has worked considerably hard recently to further improve the service we give our customers, and it gives us tremendous pleasure to be able to host events such as this to support the community in which we are proud to serve’.

Help for Heroes

Our group wide staff nominated charity for the final three months of 2009 was ‘Help for Heroes’.

Jempson’s employees choose a specific charity quarterly for their individual store, but staff at the four supermarkets mutually nominated Help for Heroes for their collection box beneficiary after the reporting of the sombre cortege scenes repatriating 8 British soldiers through Wotton Bassett.

A total of £1,000 was raised thanks to the generosity of donations from both customers and staff.

Andrew Jempson said “That notable day stuck a chord with all, we felt compelled to support this topical and very worthy cause”.

Jane Willing, a Help for Heroes Volunteer Group Co-ordinator for Sussex said “On behalf of Help for Heroes, I would like to thank Jempson’s and their customers very much for this generous donation. This will contribute to Help for Heroes’ latest venture in funding the establishment of Personnel Recovery Centres in all the main Garrisons across the UK. These will provide a launch pad of life for seriously wounded or long-term sick service personnel, supporting them as they make the transition to a fulfilling future. They will receive help in relation to combat/conflict trauma and stress as well as career advice and re-training, thus providing a level of support and care that is needed to allow patients to return to duty or gain a smooth transition to a skilled and supported civilian life”.

Stephen Jempson added “Our thanks once again go to our customers and staff who’s unsparing kindness has helped raise such a significant amount for those wounded in Britain’s current conflicts”.

Our group wide nomimated charity is the ‘Disasters Emergency Committee’ following the recent disaster in Haiti.

Pictured above are Jane Willing and Jempson’s Katie Peters.

Big Freeze Causes No Major Disruption

Despite the dramatic big freeze and sustained bad weather that has disrupted life across the country, our Peasmarsh Superstore & Petrol Filling Station, Jempson’s/Budgens Supermarkets and Jempson’s Cafes all managed to remain open throughout and operate near enough as usual.

Stephen Jempson said ‘The Staff that were able to make it into work have made Herculean efforts to keep the stores running, and we would like to not only thank them – we have had staff walk in for miles to open up – but also our customers for bearing with us and for their understanding during the recent cold snap, staff had commented that there was a pleasant and amiable atmosphere instore’. He continued ‘Our team in the Peasmarsh Bakery worked around the clock to ensure supply of an unprecedented demand for bread, and our close relationship with local dairies meant that we where able to supplement our normal supply, people were in good spirits and considering the massive demand for groceries and fuel, we believe very few customers went without basic stocks’.

Andrew Jempson added ‘Good planning, supply and fully stocked shelves meant that our customers where able to purchase the mainstay staples of bread, milk and soup as well as other essential winter warmers, but one of the most noticeable supply issues we had was salt even though we had substantial amounts delivered daily’.

Our Shopper Bus service also continued to run to schedule and almost to its full routes. Stephen Jempson said ‘We had to postpone our Wednesday morning service, but that was simply because our own bus was in for regular servicing and the hire replacement was unable to get out of the bus yard. The new Fairlight route reverted for the day to the original service due to the untreated residential roads, and Saturday was obviously an exception, but the bus still went out, we are very proud of the resilience of our bus drivers’.

Andrew Jempson concluded ‘We are receiving special deliveries overnight, the Peasmarsh Superstore car park has been snow-ploughed, and the whole group is open as usual, we will endeavour to continue to be of service to all regardless of the weather, and we look forward to welcoming you’.

Pictured is a supplier lorry at the Peasmarsh Superstore after making a delivery on Saturday morning ensuring supply despite the treacherous conditions.

Christmas Festival Support

We where delighted to have made a donation to the Rye and District Chamber of Commerce which was used to provide ’Santa’s Grotto’ at the towns annual Christmas Festival.

Our Peasmarsh Superstore raises money for the local community through sales of specific products instore, of which a specified amount of the cost of those items is allocated to a charity fund – ‘Making A Difference – Locally’.

The MADL charity was formed with the intention of assisting independent retailers, like us, with raising money for local communities, and was created by Nisa-Today’s, the UK’s leading member-owned organisation, who provide benefits to independent retailers in the food and drinks markets. Jempson’s participate in the scheme and are a key member of Nisa-Today’s.

The Making A Difference – Locally charity enables us to support further charities and good causes that are within the community we are proud to serve.

Retail Industry Awards Success

It is with great pleasure and pride that we are able to announce that we have scooped the coveted ‘Forecourt Retailer of the Year’ award at the national 2009 Retail Industry Awards for our petrol filling station and Jempson’s Express convenience store.

The renowned awards were held at a black tie event at London’s Hurlington Club recently, and have become recognised as the ‘Oscars’ of the grocery retail sector. These desired awards attracted 600 notable people from stores throughout the country.

The panel of judges were particularly impressed by our highly professional approach. “They take a great pride in all that they do, and do it extraordinarily well” said one judge. “Their initiatives are second to none” added another.

Stephen and Andrew Jempson were “Absolutely delighted to receive the award and regard it as a testimony to their staff, and the continuing loyalty and support of their customers, of which they are very grateful”.

Helen Lyons of the Retail Industry Awards said “These awards are a unique event in the retail calender, and celebrate the very best in grocery retailing, the competition in all categories this year was greater than I can ever remember, winning the ‘Forecourt Retailer of the Year’ award is a fantastic achievement, and something of which Jempson’s should be very proud”.

We also received a ‘Highly Commended’ accolade by a distinguished panel of industry judges for having truly excelled in our field with our local and fresh produce range and our beers, wines and spirits aisle.

Your award winning petrol filling station and Jempson’s Express convenience store is open daily from 6am – 10pm -except Sunday, and offers an array of products and services including:

• Fresh Food – Bread, Milk, Chilled Food, Fruit & Vegetables
• Groceries
• Soft Drinks
• Beers, Wines & Spirits
• Newspapers & Magazines
• Toiletries
• CD’s & DVD’s
• Car Care & Motoring Accessories
• Cigarettes and tobacco
• Freshly Brewed Coffee
• PayPoint
• ‘Fast Fill’ Pumps
• Car Wash & Vacuum
• Jet Wash
• Air-line
• Maps & Guides
• Compost
• Coal
• Logs & kindling wood
• Excellent Service along with friendly and helpful staff
• …Coming soon – Hot Food

Also available is the ‘Jempson’s Business Centre’ offering Broadband Internet access along with Email, fax, telephone and photocopying facilities.

Don’t forget to take advantage of our current fuel offer. Spend £60 or more on groceries in the Peasmarsh Superstore and receive a voucher entitling you to 10p off per litre of our already competitively priced fuel.

Store Greeter Robin says last ‘Good-bye’

Robin Roberts, our renowned and charismatic ‘Greeter’ has retired from the position after nearly six years of service at the Peasmarsh Superstore.

Robin, a local man from Beckley, was held in high esteem by all who met him; his warm, sincere and welcoming greetings built him an undisputable reputation for which he was well admired and lauded by customers, clients and all members of the Jempson’s team.

“Robin developed the most wonderful rapport with customers and had a unique an inimitable style for which he has garnered much affection and admiration” said Andrew Jempson, “He was able to build the most incredible relationships with people and will be sorely missed by all” he continued.

Brother Stephen added, “There is no doubt that Robin was a well admired and valued employee, he will be sadly missed, his effervescence, charisma and positivity, along with his appreciation of customers needs, has earned him much deserved respect, we wish him a long and happy retirement – he thoroughly deserves it”.

Robin commented “I have absolutely enjoyed every minute of my time at Jempson’s. It has been great fun, and I have come to know and love all my customers, they have done me the world of good. I shall miss, but never forget them all, and I will treasure my memories, but now is the time for me to sit back a bit and enjoy my retirement. I wish my customers, successors, and all the staff well for the future”.

Triumph In Government Bag Target

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn announced recently that efforts to half the number of throw away plastic carrier bags supermarkets give their customers have narrowly failed… but not at Jempson’s.

Our Peasmarsh superstore along with our sister Jempson’s/Budgens stores have already successfully addressed this major environmental issue, having phased out all use of disposable carrier bags across the stores from April 2008 as part of the Jempson’s ‘Go-Green’ campaign.

The ‘Get a Bag Habit’ is aimed at encouraging and reminding customers to use, cloth, jute or extra strong bags instead of the disposable carriers. We offer durable long-life reusable bags, high quality jute bags and empty cardboard boxes – which are free of charge.

Under our policy of re-using the cardboard boxes as opposed to carrier bags, in the last 12 months the Peasmarsh store alone has stopped 75 tonnes, or an estimated 3 million bags, going to landfill and blighting the landscape, and with all stores combined circa 150 tonnes.

Andrew Jempson said “Jempson’s has an on-going commitment to this issue and our Go Green campaign, and by working together with customers we have made a difference. The government set a target of a 50% reduction, the multiples only achieved 48% and we have made 90%”. Brother Stephen added “We would like to thank our customers for their continued support of this initiative, and we really appreciate the efforts they have made to enable us to achieve this incredible figure”.

Alfred’s 30th Jempson’s Year Is A Cut Above The Rest

Alfred Vidler celebrated the 30th anniversary of his illustrious career with the company recently.

Before joining Jempson’s three decades ago, Alfred and his father ran the village butcher’s shop in Northiam. The Vidlers have lived in the village for generations and Alf is very proud of his heritage.

Alfred is of ‘the old school’. He can do, and do with panache all the things you would expect of a traditional butcher and grocer and a considerable amount more, his enthusiasm and pride in his work are relished by customers and staff alike, he is a Jempson’s ‘Local Hero’.

Alfred spoke of his career to date ‘I have thoroughly enjoyed every year with Jempson’s. I started my career with Harold Jempson at the old store, and it was a privilege to have worked with him, as it still is today with both Andrew and Stephen at the helm, along with a fabulous team’.

Andrew Jempson said ‘Alfred has become the embodiment of what Jempson’s stands for, always offering a first class service with the very best product knowledge’ and brother Stephen reiterated ‘Alfred has an invaluable passion to his work and along with his commitment has proved to be a very valuable asset to the company’

Jempson’s in the vanguard, now and then

Our promotional material often includes a photograph, taken in the 1930s, of George Jempson’s first delivery van. The van symbolizes several features associated with Jempson’s. George bought the van to help him expand his business by delivering bread and groceries from the bakery and shop in Peasmarsh to the surrounding villages, isolated farms and to the fields during harvesting.

The two lads in the photograph, Nigel Sheather and Desmond Wells, were long serving employees of Jempson’s. We have an enviable reputation for staff loyalty. Enterprise and skilled committed staff are two important factors in our history. No less important are our reputation for honest trading, customer service and sourcing produce and products locally whenever possible. We have been rewarded by customer loyalty so enabling to grow and diversify the business.

The replica van shown in this picture is modelled on those used by tradesmen sixty years ago. We consider ourselves to be progressive yet mindful of our heritage. That legacy is symbolised by the van. There’s a touch of nostalgia in most people, we enjoy the occasional stroll down Memory Lane. Indulge us if you will. Enjoy the van when its displayed at Peasmarsh and when we use it for special promotions. We hope you will see it as a representation of enduring values and reassurance in a seemingly fickle world.

Jim’s Farewell to Jempson’s

Mr. James Hough, marketing consultant for Jempson’s has retired from the position after seven years of service within the company.

Jim, as he affectionately known by all at Jempson’s, witnessed many changes in the group from when he first joined in 2001. His work involved many aspects of marketing, from the transition of the former premises at Peasmarsh, into the current, modern, award winning 35,000 sq ft Superstore, the opening of 2 of the 4 Coffee Shops and Jempson’s acquisitions of the Budgens stores in Rye, Battle and Hawkhurst. He was well revered and lauded by all members of the Jempson’s team.

Jim, a local person from Rolvenden, also oversaw the development of the renowned and hugely popular “Meet the Experts” series, the “Local Hero” portfolio as well as collating material for content in the Jempson history and archive.

“Jim especially enjoyed working with our Local Heroes”, said Andrew Jempson, “He visited all the local producers, learnt the methods of production, and gathered all the information and photographs for our campaign. He respects their expertise and commitment to consistently high quality’ he continued.

Brother Stephen added, “There is no doubt that Jim was a well respected employee, he will be sadly missed, however, we wish him and Gill a long a happy retirement – he deserves it!”

Jim said “Jempson’s long history is marked by periods of innovation and expansion followed by consolidation. I was fortunate to join the business when it was on the threshold of major growth. The Superstore at Peasmarsh was about to be opened and this was followed by the acquisition of the former Budgens stores. The business has been transformed during the last seven years.

A talented management team is in place and staff training is given a high priority. This enables Jempson’s to operate at levels of efficiency and customer service that have become a benchmark for its customers and competitors.

Stephen and Andrew have achieved this and more while remaining true to their roots, the family’s principles and values to the communities they serve. They deserve their success and I wish them, my successor and all the staff well for the future’.

Pictured with Jim Hough (left) is Jempson’s Local Hero Bernard Sheather.

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