The SubPostmaster Magazine

anch back to the district.
“I applied to take on this branch,
because I’m local,” Rizwan says. “All
four of my branches are within half
an hour, which was another positive
reason to take on Wood Green Post
Office.”
Rizwan’s passion for the post office
is infectious and straightforward.
“The post office is very important,
because the community needs it, so
do business people, as well as
vulnerable people and elderly
people,” he says.
The community hub
Since opening the branch, Rizwan
says that he has been delighted with
the positive feedback he’s had from
customers.
Currently, on Google Reviews, the
branch has 4.9 stars, from the first 54
reviews it has received.
“Wood Green Post Office is a local
community hub – the most popular
thing the community needs after
pharmacies and GP surgeries,”
Rizwan says. “Supporting our
community is crucial
and it’s important to
be back in the
community.”
The new branch is
open longer hours
than the previous
post office in the
district, and it’s open on
Sundays, too.
Rizwan says: “Being open on a
Sunday is good for people who work
full-time and can’t visit us during the
week. We’re trialling opening on
Sundays and if it goes to plan, I’ll
open my other branches on Sundays
as well.”
Before he had his interview with
PO for the Wood Green branch, he
created his own Google forum to
generate awareness of the branch,
which at that point was not a done
deal.
The retail side
Rizwan says that at all of his four
branches, he keeps things very
simple.
“It's
important to
be back in the
community”
“I only sell stationery items and I
don’t sell food items or household
items,” he says.
When the store first opened,
Rizwan merchandised educational
books in one area of the store.
“I ordered £1,000 of books to see
how sales would go,” Rizwan says. “In
the first week, everything sold out,
and we had made a good profit. I
said we needed to make changes. I
have given three areas of the store to
educational books and placed an
order for £5,000 worth of books.
“There is not a single educational
book store in Harringay.
“The Works offers a limited range of
10 or 12 different products, but we
have more than 200 different
products in our books collection, with
titles for GCSE, KS1 and KS2, KS3 and
11-plus papers.”
The retail side of the business
complements the post office too.
“We have an ID photo system
in-branch, so if a customer needs a
photo card for their income support,
they don’t need to go outside and
get the photos done somewhere
else,” Rizwan says.
“Under one roof, we
can do everything for
them, which provides
a better journey for
customers rather
than to come in, go
out to get the
photos and then
come back again.”
Rizwan says that in
the first week of trade,
while the branch was
successful, he could see that by
making changes, he could improve
the layout.
“We opened on the Monday and on
the following Saturday, my team and
I stayed until 2am to change the
store,” he says.
“Products have to be good rather
than cheap. While the profit margin
will be less, if customers are happy,
they will keep coming in.”
Marketing the new branch
When I arrived at Wood Green Post
Office, Rizwan was busy designing a
personalised leaflet from Branch
Hub, to help with prospecting
businesses.
April 2024 The SubPostmaster 19