Operation Focus - Transforming and Simplifying Woolies 1985-9

As work on the Cornerstone strategy continued, a separate team was set up to explore a more radical alternative, a shop 'just for children'. Consultants worked on the look while Buyers chose the products.

The first 'Kidstore' took the place of the Woolworth in Ealing Broadway, West London. It opened on 3 April, 1987. Shoppers liked the new look and sales were good, prompting two further outlets in Colchester, Essex and the Riverdale Centre, Lewisham, SE13.

Observers were impressed that so much of the store's range was new and different. The team had reinvented the range of sweets, toys and clothes.

The Kidstore team had excelled. Despite only buying for a tiny chain, they had managed to keep prices comparable to Woolworths, at the same margin, for a brighter, more contemporary range.

After a review the Board decided that, rather than building further Kidstores, it would be better to adopt the ideas and ranges into a new Woolworth format. They developed plans to change the store space mix, extending the displays of Toys and Clothing and dropping some of the underperforming ranges. The approach came to be known as 'Operation Focus'.

An in-depth study identified six key 'stories' or product areas in large, stable markets, which appeared well suited to the stores:

• Entertainment - LPs, Tape Cassettes, Pre-Recorded Videos and PC Software
• Toys and Stationery - with items for fun, school and offices at home
• Kidswear - quality garments at low prices, particularly for the under fives
• Gifts and Sweets - Confectionery, Cards and Party Products
• Looks - Fashion Accessories, Cosmetics, Toiletries and Jewellery
• Home, Kitchen and Garden - practical, stylish living and Do-It-Yourself

Following the Cornerstone pattern, as the stores adopted the new look they were renamed 'Woolworths'. The remaining ranges were dropped. Stocks of Food, Delicatessen, Wines and Spirits, Adult Clothing, Audio and Television, Fishing and Leisure Products, Home Brew, Toiletries, Furniture and Floor Coverings vanished from the shelves in 1986-7, along with the firm's charge card and credit centre.

Focus also divided the stores into three distinct types:

• Malls of over 18,000 square feet (5486m²). This format was tested at Reading, Berkshire and then dropped.
• Comparison (top right), initially branded 'Woolworths Weekend' for large towns
• Convenience (bottom right), initially called 'Woolworths General Store' for High Streets

Each store stocked the same core range, which was then extended with additional breadth and depth as space allowed.

For example 'Looks' in the small stores consisted of a small selection of stockings, tights and hair goods, while the large outlets had personal service Jewellery and Cosmetics counters, as well as handbags and brightly coloured, contemporary fashion accessories.

The two store interiors were distinctly different. Shoppers were impressed by the look of the first General Store in Bicester, Oxfordshire (below, left). The prototype Woolworths Weekend in Gallowtree Gate, Leicester (below, right) was also a hit.

At the heart of the success of focus were two new ranges - Ladybird and Chad Valley.

To secure the Focus strategy, the parent company acquired its wholesale music supplier, Record Merchandisers Ltd, for £6.5m. It was later renamed Entertainment (UK) Ltd. It took on many of the responsibilities traditional undertaken by the Buying Office, choosing the range, setting the prices and supply the goods. An EUK field force helped to train the stores and maintain a consistent standard.

Testing of 'Focus' was accelerated in response to a hostile takeover bid from Dixons Stores Group. As the acrimonious bid-battle continued, the new format was rushed into more than fifty stores, each selected because it was in a town with a high concentration of shareholders.

The suffix names "Weekend" and "General Store" were dropped after customers starting asked why the big stores didn't open Monday to Friday and why the small stores didn't sell Cornflakes! The extravagance of the shopfitting was also scaled back. The fancy cartwheel lights and pine shelving were dropped for mass roll-out. By 1990 every store had moved to the new look. 300 branches had been fully refurbished, and 450 had been spruced up and re-arranged. Ironically, in accelerating the change, the bid battle helped to sustain the chain.