A Marlow shop owner is worried about the future of his business, seven months after opening.
Mohamed Farhi, who runs Marlow Green on Morris Place, revealed to the Bucks Free Press that after a 'busy' first two months, the shop now averages 10-15 customers a day.
The shop sells numerous types of organic fruit and veg, non-organic fruit and veg, organic chocolate bars, snacks, and condiments.
REACTION: Readers give advice to improve Marlow Green revenue
Mr. Farhi, who moved to the UK from Italy 18 months ago currently lives in London and travels to Marlow daily.
He told the Bucks Free Press: “It is a hard time for me to be honest.
“The last few months have been very, very quiet and I have no idea how to change it.
“I’m trying to make a little bit of profit on all my stuff and hopefully people will understand that I’m a private business and not a big company - I’m a little shop.
“Maybe my prices are more expensive than the supermarket, but they’re a big company – I’m not as I’m paying the rent and I’m paying the business rates.
“Hopefully my luck will change soon.”
The shop is located next door to the town’s Mr. Simms sweet shop but due to the presence of Marks and Spencer, which is no more than 15 yards away from Marlow Green, the grocery store has seen its customers decline over the summer and autumn months.
And even though Waitrose is to close at the end of the month, Mr. Farhi still doesn’t feel confident in an increase in customers as he believes, ‘if people are used to Waitrose, they’ll just go to the one in Wycombe, as Marlow to Wycombe isn’t that far’.
All the produce in the shop is purchased from the Old Spitalfields Market in London, and to help bring in customers, several pumpkins have appeared in the window display due to Halloween.
He added: “My wife and my friends will work on different ideas over the next few months to try and bring in more customers.
“I’ll bring more organic stuff than regular stuff.
“And as it’s Halloween this month, I’ve put a lot of pumpkins out on display so hopefully things will change, and I’m also hopeful that Christmas will be a very busy period.
“I have a Facebook page and I also try and do deliveries at home as I’m trying my best to make a profit.
“I love this kind of job. I love food, I love seeing people and I love making sure that all the food I have is fresh and organic.
“All my food is loose as I don’t want to restrict my customers from choosing what they want. They can have as much as they want, as none of the produce is packeted.
“Hopefully more customers will come soon.”
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