Café, Department Store

The Right Fit: Wroes Department Store Installs Storefront EPOS

Vision & Context

A long-established business built on choice, service and trust

Wroes is not a single-category retailer. It is a long-established, family-run department store business with roots going back to 1919, operating from Bude, Wadebridge and Launceston in Cornwall.

Over the decades, it has grown into the kind of business that becomes part of people’s lives. Customers come in for clothing, gifts, homeware and outdoor products, but they also come in because the store feels familiar, dependable and personal. That’s important. Wroes has spent more than a century building trust in communities that value good service and the reassurance of a real shop with real people behind it.

What makes Wroes distinctive is the breadth of their offer. The Bude store alone brings together fashion, home living, outdoor retail and the Ocean View Coffee Shop, while the wider business spans three locations with slightly different ranges. This is not a narrow retail operation with a small, simple product file. It is a proper independent department store, with all the complexity that comes from serving different types of customer, across different departments, in different branches, while still delivering a joined-up experience.

As the business continued to serve customers across multiple sites, the need for systems that could support that complexity became more pressing.

Wroes did not need technology for technology’s sake. It needed a practical retail platform that could keep pace with the reality of how a modern department store works.

Challenges

The practical pressures of running three stores as one business

Department store retail brings a different kind of pressure from many food-led environments. At Wroes, the day is shaped by choice. Different sizes, colours and styles. Large seasonal ranges. Products that may be available in one branch but not another. Customers who reasonably expect staff to know, there and then, whether the item they want is available elsewhere. In a business with three stores, that can quickly become difficult if information is not easy to access and trust.

That is where the friction starts to show. A customer asks whether a jacket is available in another size, or whether a particular product can be collected from a different branch, and suddenly a simple conversation becomes a series of checks. Staff may need to confirm stock, contact another site, or spend valuable time finding information that ought to be immediately available. None of this feels dramatic in isolation, but repeated dozens of times a day, it creates drag. It slows service, interrupts colleagues and chips away at confidence on the shop floor.

There is also the wider challenge of competition from the Internet. A business like Wroes needs its stores to feel individual to customers, while operating as one business behind the scenes. Pricing needs to be right. Stock visibility needs to be reliable. Teams need to trust what they are seeing. In a department store setting, where there are many departments and a wide product mix, those operational details have a direct effect on customer experience. When systems are unclear, customers start to lose confidence.

What EPOS Cubed Delivered

A more connected way to manage department store retail across multiple locations

EPOS Cubed and Storefront™ gives Wroes a clearer, more connected view of the business. The stores work together in a way that reflects how the business actually runs. For the team, that means greater certainty. For customers, it means quicker answers and a smoother experience in store.

Visibility is at the heart of this. In a department store, stock isn’t just stock. It’s size, colour, fit and location. With that information readily available, staff can respond in the moment, keeping conversations flowing rather than having to step away to check.

Efficiency

Better visibility across multiple sites

For Wroes, one of the most valuable outcomes is having a clear, reliable view across all three stores. Stock, pricing and activity can be seen in one place, reducing guesswork and bringing greater consistency across the business.

This shared view makes it easier to manage the day, keep everything aligned and run multiple locations with confidence.

Confident service on the shop floor

The Wroes team can respond to customers there and then, without stepping away to check stock or make calls. Whether it’s finding the right size or confirming availability, service feels more confident, even during busy periods.

Reliable support

When something needs attention, the Wroes team can speak directly to people who understand their setup and how they work. That means quicker answers, less disruption and the reassurance that help is always there when it’s needed.

"Storefront is straightforward, reliable and flexible – exactly what we were looking for after 30 years of unit stock control. But ultimately business is all about people and the service and commitment of the team has been fantastic."

What Other Retailers Can Learn

Reflections for department stores and multi-site retailers considering change

Modernisation doesn’t mean starting again: Long-established retailers don’t need to reinvent themselves. Often, the biggest gains come from removing friction in everyday operations.
Run multiple stores as one business: When stock and sales are visible across locations, teams can respond faster and avoid unnecessary back-and-forth.
Speed matters in real moments: When customers are waiting, quick access to sizes, stock and pricing keeps service natural and confident.
Systems should support, not distract: The best retail systems stay in the background, helping staff focus on customers rather than chasing information.