TRADERS have voted with their trolleys - giving the new Booker Wholesale, at Clifton Moor, York, a great big thumbs-up.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds have been spent on the cash-and-carry in Audax Road - one of only six branches out of 173 in the UK to get the super makeover.

The effect of six weeks' building work has been to boost by ten per cent to 10,500 the number of product lines displayed in the 60,000sq ft of display space.

It has also meant that trading hours have been extended by nearly ten hours at weekends and staff numbers have risen from 32 full-time equivalent jobs to 40, with more to be recruited at Christmas.

The goods range now extends far beyond retailers and caterers' food and drink to cover a wide variety of non-food such as fireworks, party packs, electrical goods and gift ideas, while the stock of foods, beers, award-winning own-name brand wines, spirits and cleaning equipment has intensified.

General manager Kenny Legge reports that in only one week, there were 324 new business-only free registrations adding to the 3,500 active customers who usually converge on the massive cathedral-like warehouse dedicated to things-for-sale.

Tony Overton, Booker Wholesale's managing director, said: "The York branch - the only Booker Wholesale in the north - is the last of the six chosen few to get the treatment. We will be evaluating what has been successful and deciding how we can take it across the rest of the business."

He said there were seven "Premier" customers in the York area - those who had contractually agreed annual spends with Booker and took part in the Booker-originated promotions.

"There is room for a lot more.

"We have 1,900 Premier customers throughout the country and on average their sales are boosted by about 25 per cent."

A new feature in Booker Wholesale is a variety of Polish food and drink.

Mr Legge said: "We are catering for the growing influx of Polish people in York and, by all accounts, they can't get enough of foods from home."

The revamped cash and carry also features fruit and vegetables with three times more sourced from local farms.

Mr Legge added: "The food is two days fresher and, because we cut down the supply chain, it is 30 per cent cheaper."