A CONVENIENCE store owner is hoping to attract more customers and provide an enhanced service with an expansion of his store.

Krishan Patel who runs Supreme Food in Tonge Moor Road, and another store in Halliwell Road, has recently bought the property next to the Tonge Moor site and is currently expanding.

He has owned the store independently for nearly three years but is going to be reopening as a Nisa Local, part of the Co-Op group.

Work is progressing on expanding the store into next door and overhauling the existing shop, spending over £250,000.

Krishan said: “A lot of work has already been done after we bought the property next door.

“We are really increasing what we already did, increasing our food selections, getting in a Costa Express, a free cash machine ­— we are just improving everything we can.

“Ultimately from a business point of view we hope this can help our sales, but it will be really great for us to increase the choice in our store for out local customers to deliver a better service for them.”

The store is closed at the moment, with an aim to be reopen in the next few weeks.

Krishan said they are currently coming up with ideas of how to celebrate this, while sticking to coronavirus guidelines, with voucher competitions and other offers currently in the works.

Krishan bought the store nearly three years ago but he has only recently been able to expand.

He said: “We saw the property straight away and thought we want to find the owner to make an offer for it. We could never find them though, so we’ve been waiting for years just wanting to expand.

“It was only when by chance we saw them at the property that we were able to talk to them and make an offer.”

The store experienced a very busy period at the start of the pandemic with many changes made.

He said: “We had to make a lot of changes for Covid ­— putting up screens, limiting numbers, and asking people to put on masks ­— it was mad busy at first but it’s been pretty steady since.

Krishan added: “Hopefully we can finish our overhaul as soon as possible and have show our customers our new store. It’s really exciting times for us.”