By Deirdre Huston
Many of you will know Suness from Keymer Stores. He achieved a degree in mathematics from London Metropolitan University. After graduating, as well as selling new cars, he traded in financial markets on FourX -an online platform. He then decided he wanted to have his own business, and says: “Being a businessman and investor, I bought Keymer Stores.”
The last few years have been full of change. This is true in terms of the pandemic, the economy, and also in Suness’ personal life. In August, 2021, Suness was acting as groomsman at the wedding of a friend. The bride’s best mate was Faizah Ali, a pharmacist from Glasgow. This was the first time Suness and Faizah met, and their relationship has since gone from strength to strength.
Around the time he met Faizah, Suness was making an important decision about which of two avenues to follow: he was considering whether to expand his retail business by buying more shops, or whether to invest in property. Suness says: “Once you meet someone, you have a shared life together, and this influences your decisions.”
Suness has always worked long hours, but when he settles down and has a family, he would welcome having the flexibility to spend some time with his family. Faizah helped Suness decide to expand the retail business. Suness says: “I like the idea of creating new owners who start with little retail experience but want to build a future of their own.” He adds: “I may be able to help with financial and legal support, too.”
Suness says: “I’m creating a family business with the help of my brother, Neel, who is now in charge of stock operations.” Another well-known personality from Keymer Stores is Frank Guoonghe, who has now been promoted to Regional Manager.
In November, Suness took over Hassocks Food and Wines. The previous owner, Jasvir, heard that Suness was buying stores and messaged that he might be interested as he wanted to start a different type of business. Suness was delighted to take on another shop in the village, as he has built up a strong connection with the local community. In December, Suness will also complete on the purchase of a shop in Ham Road, Shoreham called Lighters Newsagents.
Suness says: “With the help of my team, we are hoping to expand,” and adds: “We are grateful for the support we’ve received from ASM Accountants.” Suness aims to complete on further shops where there is a strong connection with the community. He explains: “I envisage a family network of shops.” He is actively looking for other shops across South East England, but they have to be the right locations. He says: “We’ve built up a good connection with the convenience store community in this region, and our team is actively looking for the next shop.”
Having more than one shop enables me to bulk buy to ensure our prices are competitive.” He adds: “This is important, especially right now, so we’re always trying to get items at a better price to keep our customers happy.”
It’s important to Suness that management retains a direct connection with the customer and therefore he’s commissioned a bespoke software system which will work via an iPad in each shop. “We will have a lot of realtime updates on stock,” explains Suness, “and this will also facilitate feedback to help bridge the gap between customer and management.”
Suness already manages a lot of orders for regular customers and says: “Pretty much anything we stock in the shop, such as wine or beer, we can get hold of for loyal customers, if they are buying a box or crate.” Since the pandemic, Suness has done deliveries, as suits the particular needs of his customers.
The Keymer shop will keep the full parcel and label printing service but the Hassocks Food and Wine branch will be a delivery and collection point for Collect Plus and Yodel.
Suness will still be around and about in the village as he now has an office at the back of the Hassocks Food and Wines store, so do stop and say hello.
