Mary Portas, Queen of Shops and her BBC film crew were back in Market Street earlier today, finishing off their filming of the revamped Fosters green grocers.
As you can see, the shop is now called 3 Sisters and has had a noticeable makeover. Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to join what looked like a queue to enter the shop, so I haven’t yet been inside. Look carefully at the photo and you’ll see the film crew inside.
Have you been inside and if so what do you think? Does 3 Sisters demonstrate what other shops in Market Street need to do? Feel free to express your views!
The best of luck to the sisters!
Differentiation and value are the ingredients for success.
When is it on the TV? Anyone know?
Dear Peter
Im not sure whether this has been aired before but its on next Monday 21st June 2010 on BBC 2 at 9pm.
If you go onto BBC iPlayer, it should be available there for a little while – I watched it last night 🙂
What a Job the very sexy Mary Portas has done to this now great shop.
woo woo (wolf whistle for you mary hahah)
Gwynne Thomas.
Wirral.
A great set of improvement to a local shop I have to admit I have only recently started to support since being laid off in April, therefore having the time to shop locally during the day.
I believe they will do well as they have a wide range of good quality produce and are also very friendly, including offering the dog free biscuits on each visit. It will not be long before the dog will be dragging me to shop on every walk….
[She already does that with Maccombs where she gets treats]
For information, for those for whom it is difficult to shop there during the day, they now offer a veg box delivery service.
Very good makeover, and a grocers that needs local support and use. As all independent shops in Hoylake do. Act too as an intelligent customer, feeding back your views so that hopefully shopkeepers can reflect them. Build up a rapport with them. For example, the grocers are quite happy for you to ring and ask for a particular fruit and veg to be in the day you call – I know, I rang and asked for flat leaf parsley the other week, and there it was the day after, a whopping bunch at a third the cost of the supermarket at least. I’ve put them on notice that I’ll be gorging on sprout tops in season in a month or two, so they’ll get them in for me…….
Lots of the produce there is local.
Lovely shop.
As someone who moved up from SW London a few months back, we can’t believe how lucky we are to have a butchers, a bakers, a grocers, and a fishmongers on the ‘high street’ there. And, you’ve got all that in West Kirby too. All that’s missing is a really good delicatessen……….
Actually, we do know how lucky we are as it’s why we moved here. I’ll do my bit to keep them going.
If Im honest I have to say i wont be going there now its been madeover…it looks too expensive and not as inviting and friendly.
Why on earth would you not go to the 3 sisters – go and try it out and see if it is too expensive – its called market research! I always find the ladies are so helpful and will get anything you want them to and the prices are very good. Not to mention the free delivery service. I think this shop is a boon to Hoylake. Now if we had a super deli as well …
its not called market research if you are just a customer…its called consumer choice
many of my friends dont go there due to the poor quality of food
You sound like a child who won’t eat something new. Try it. Then rule it out. You never know, you may actually like it. But how you can have an opinion when you haven’t really makes you sound like a fool. No matter if your friend told you to think it. Honestly!
I’ve just seen the Mary Portas programme and would definitely go to 3 Sisters if I lived in the area. With produce that is local, fresh and reasonably priced – they deserve to succeed!
i so wiah we had an independant greengrocers where we live
and we have to go to the supermarket….
so do please support them, and the great of an ordering service
with free delivery go for it i say.
lucky people
Poster above commenting on the “poor quality of food” is absolutely wrong. The produce is divine, made a very nice berry crumble with ingredients from this shop just the other day. And the photos of the ladies are very cute indeed. Three groceresses as ripe and luscious as their wares.
It’d be good to have some examples of the ‘poor quality’ food – if nothing else the sisters would likely welcome the feedback. Personally, I find the quality absolutely fine – in particular the carrots and all greens are spot on. Course, the carrots and lots of other stuff is often filthy as it’s just come out of the ground and if you shop in supermarkets it would come as shock to realise a lot of veg grows in muck. Still, wash them and they’re lovely, but I know that’s hard work for the time-pressed (or lazy, depending on the your point of view).
My box was fantastic last week, with loads of it grown in Hoylake. First of the season’s broad beans; last of the asparagus, which will not pass our lips again ’till next year
Great show. I have holidayed in Hoylake, so I remember that parade of shops. The make-over is great. I live in the county town of Lewes in East Sussex, 8 miles outside Brighton. There used to be a green grocers there (one of several,sadly there is only one left). It underwent a makeover along the lines of 3 Sisters, called itself Bills, took over two more shops, added a coffee shop….it is always packed. If the sisters are ever down this way, they should pay Bills a visit. Their make-over could just be the beginning.
I’ve just moved to Hoylake (having previously lived in Heswall). I was really impressed when I found 3 sisters and I love their delivery boxes. I have two small children so I find it really handy that they will deliver my box, without me having to step outside the house. Its also a nice surprise, who knows what we’ll get in our box, which makes cooking more exciting. we’ve tried some new vegetables now and found we like them! They were things that I’d never even picked up in a shop before.
Its really nice to visit the shop, my little girl likes going there to pick fruit etc… She especially likes to be able to hand pick berries etc.. and she is so more interested in things like strawberries now and certainly eats a lot more of them!
3 Sister are doing a great job – well done!! 🙂
I watched the programme last night with great interest. I remembered Fosters being there “forever”. Brave move to change the name- and I wish the sisters every success. The shop looks lovely and if I was visiting Hoylake I’d definitely give it a try. Could understand members of the public who said it was the wrong end of the village- but think it’s probably worth the walk. I love the idea of the veggie boxes- I know lots of people who get boxes from various sources and love the surprise every week.
Long live local shops
I used to live in Wallasey and was very sad when our local greengrocers was forced to close. Hoylake, you are super lucky to have this great, independent shop on your doorstep! And veg boxes delivered for free too! I’d want my fruit sent as well. I’ve always felt like veg boxes were an expensive choice from websites like ocado.com, but £8 is very reasonable indeed.
Best of luck to the 3 Sisters, I’m glad they saw eye to eye with Mary, they are proving crazy baker lady from episode one completely wrong.
I only recently discovered this program, love watching it. (I’m all the way down in New Zealand) – I agree with you Ros, that ‘crazy baker lady’ was a disgrace, I was wondering why she asked for Mary’s help if she wasn’t prepared to take it. I checked the store’s website and it appears her baker is no longer working for her, what’s the bet she got rid of him because he agreed with Mary, LOL. As for the 3 Sisters, so pleased they took her advice on board, long live these independant retailers.
I didnt even know they did vege boxes and I live around the corner lol
I have shopped there by the way and dont think much of some of the quality. Just giving the reasons why some others have told me they dont either. It isnt out of ignorance or a he said, she said….just giving another viewpoint.
I worked at Fosters on saturday mornings in the early seventies (i was about 13). I will never forget how difficult is was, trying to put a sack of spuds in the basket on the front of the delivery bike then have to peddle up to Meols Drive to deliver….How ironic is it then that i now work in the fresh produce industry and have done for 20 years. Happy days and good luck to the 3 Sisters.
The brand is very powerful and i hope they also use the internet to promote their brand further and receive the veg box order via internet. Their strength against big supermarkets is the small scale through which they can continue to be innovative tailoring their products to the local customer needs. I’ll pay a visit to the 3 sisters when I’m around that area and wish them all the best. Excellent stuff!
I’d shop there in a heartbeat if I lived near.
Go girls INDEPENDANT shop, just brilliant – fresh local fruit and veg, super!!! lets promote more Fruit and Veg, lets get our kids into the shop, look at the colours they are devine and the presentation is amazing, everything looks good to eat now and raw!!! Well done ladies!! power to you! Caroline in Leeds
Recently visited one of the other shops in the Mary Portas series- Clealls in Corfe Castle. What a fantastic shop it is now, we were
camping in area and bought the most delicous kebabs for a BBQ- the owner, who I recognised from TV served me. She was very pleasant and helpful and exchanged the wine I’d picked up for a cold bottle.
Could see a few shortcomings but it was a very busy day and the produce was fantastic. Guess Mary’s input is very valuable to businesses. This shop is in a prime site so it’s hard to beleive it was in trouble.
Am delighted to read all the positive comment on 3 Sisters. Long may they thrive.
Sue
hi, does anyone remember a Reg Butcher who used to be at that fruit shop around the Fifties. Helen Carr
Just watched the programme over here in Singapore – hope you are doing well..wish we had this beautiful shop here!
You guys are lucky in Europe you can get produce locally from Europe. Unfortunately here in Canada, most of our stuff comes from California and we only get the odd potatoes that are not American but most of the time sadly we get the Green Giant brand of potatoes 🙁
Support Local Grocers.
Kelven what part of Canada do you live in? In Windsor Ontario in Essex county the produce is local from late May,
asparagrass, strawberris, to cauliflower and late cabbage to the end of October.Local potatos come on end of June, all tpes of tree fruit apples pears peaches cherries and nectarines all summer and fall.During the winter tomato and seedless cucumbers are available from one of the largest complex of greenhouses in North America.
Also Leamington is known as the Tomato Capital of Canada,field tomatos for Heinz plant.
If you only find Green Giant potatos you must shop at Loblaws, try Prince Edward Island potatos avalable from August to late spring. By the way Green Giant frozen vegtables are procesd and frozen in Tecumseh just outside Windsor.
Their are also four or five wineries in Essex County lots of local choice.
Maybe your area is in western Canada or the Yukon.