Take on Goliath founder assumes new Health Stores UK role
Health Stores UK has welcomed Take on Goliath founder Dave Christie as its head of business development, the SME and retail mentor bringing to the role ‘deep knowledge and experience’ of the indie health food channel.
As a new position created by Health Stores UK, the role is intended to drive growth for the association. “It’s a role that is very much built around business development, building new links, bringing new people into our wonderful channel and supporting the people who are already in it,” comments Christie.
“I’ll be working hard to bring on board new partners that offer real value to our members. I’ll be looking at the member offering and developing it in ways that enable us to engage with potential new retail members, demonstrating the powerful business case for them to join us. I want to use the role to put Health Stores UK much more in people’s minds, to give us a better presence and more impact in our channel.”
“I want to use the role to put Health Stores UK much more in people’s minds, to give us a better presence and more impact in our channel.”
“I’ll also be reaching out to retailers and partners, getting feedback, listening to what is needed and putting in place measures that will help drive growth, support the stores and bring new people into the channel. That ball has already been set in motion. I’ll be attending the Bira conference … alongside committee member Cheryl Thallon. And I’ll be using the opportunity to explore ways that we can develop further partnerships and grow the channel.
“Fundamentally, Health Stores UK is now in a position where it can act more proactively for all its members, and the wider trade. For me personally this is a great opportunity as I am so passionate about helping independent businesses. More than anything it’s an opportunity to help those businesses rise up, to protect our high streets — both the retailers and the specialist brands who work tirelessly to give this fantastic offering to our customers — and support them more effectively and credibly, so we can grow our businesses together.”
Welcoming Christie to Health Stores UK, its chair Len Glenville adds: “We are delighted that Dave is joining us in this exciting new role. Dave’s business Take on Goliath is already a partner of the association, and he has made a fantastic contribution over the last 18 months hosting webinars, offering unique ‘insider’ advice to members and helping us out at key trade shows. As head of business development, I am confident Dave will bring new energy and insight to Health Stores UK, helping us build new partnerships and strengthening our influence with key industry stakeholders.”
By Rosie Greenaway, editor