Retail must adapt to survive, Iceland boss tells Shropshire audience

Sir Malcolm Walker CBE fears many towns are in danger of becoming “deserted” and it will be places that become “destinations” that will survive.

Mr Walker, who was the guest speaker at the annual business lunch hosted by Moreton Hall near Oswestry, said the key to the survival of many businesses such as his own is being able to adapt and innovate.

He said: “It has been 49 years since we started and obviously the world has changed many times. Where we are at the moment is a nightmare. The high street is closing down, shops are closing, people are being laid off.

“The high street has been in existence for 1,000 years and it is about time it changed. It will never be the same again.

“I don’t know what will happen to some town centres. Places like Oxford Street and Chester will to an extent survive as a place of destination but it is a concern for other towns like Wrexham which are in danger of becoming deserted – and half the towns in Britain are in the same way.

“We’re still here. We set up a new business four years ago, Food Warehouse. We also have an online business which is growing at a massive rate.

“But while the Food Warehouse and online businesses are doing really well, the old Iceland shops are hard work, but we will keep at it.

“Businesses have to keep changing. Once you stop doing that you’re dead.”

While some big companies like Tesco and Marks & Spencer have been stockpiling products in case of a no-deal Brexit, Mr Walker said his company has not made any plans.

“We had a visit a couple of days ago from HMRC and part of the meeting was about our plans for a no-deal. We said ‘You tell me’. I have no idea. Plans ­– I haven’t got any. All this stuff about things like stockpiling – I have no idea what’s going to happen yet so what can I do?”

Uncertainty

Despite Brexit uncertainty and difficult times on the high street, Mr Walker said Iceland plans to open a raft of new stores over the next couple of years.

After setting up the first Iceland store in Oswestry in 1970, Mr Walker hopes to open its 1,000th shop in its 50th anniversary next year.

“Consider what’s happened on the high street – bankruptcies, store closures, CVAs, redundancies, household names disappearing. But we are still here and expanding.

“How come we are still here and the rest of the high street seems to be closing down? Sometimes it feels like we are the last man standing. We have been able to evolve. It is evolve, adapt or die.

“I know people think of us as a frozen food retailer, but people maybe surprised our biggest-selling product is milk, followed by bread, followed by eggs.

“We started home delivery which eventually led to online shopping. It is growing 25 per cent a year.

“You don’t need an original idea to be a successful entrepreneur. You do need to develop the idea better than the person you pinched it from, and keep in touch with your market and give your customers what they want.”

Catalyst

During the business lunch, which was sponsored by Investec, the audience gained an insight into how the Yorkshireman began his entrepreneurial career from leaving school without conspicuous academic qualifications to joining Woolworths as a trainee manager.

He founded Iceland as a sideline in 1970 and opened a single small shop in Oswestry, selling loose frozen food with capital of just £30.

He shared his remarkable journey from discovering his extracurricular interest in frozen food – resulting in his dismissal at Woolworths, which provided the catalyst for a rapid expansion of Iceland into a national chain.

Iceland today has annual sales of more than £3 billion and more than 950 stores in the UK, Ireland and Czech Republic, plus franchised stores and a global export business. The company directly employs more than 24,000 people and has paid more than £1.3 billion in UK taxes since 2005.

The business lunch, which is held at the school near Oswestry every year, has become a firm fixture in the busy diaries of Shropshire and also regional business leaders. Impressive past guest speakers include Old Moretonians Zanny Minton Beddoes, editor of The Economist magazine, and Fiona Marshall, brand marketing director of online fashion firm ASOS.

The most recent guest speakers have been Nick Wheeler, founder and chairman of Charles Tyrwhitt Shirts and William Hague, former leader of the Conservative Party, and the former chief executive of the London Stock Exchange Group Xavier Rolet.