U.K. Grocers Entering the Convenience Store Space

NACS Online
November 18, 2013

Both BHS and Asda announced plans to open convenience store concepts to better compete with rivals.

​UNITED KINGDOM – Sir Philip Green is planning to open convenience food outlets in 150 of his BHS stores, “as the billionaire retailer eyes a fresh battle for customers with the supermarket chains and Marks & Spencer,” reports The Independent.

And after years of dismissing the idea, Asda, the U.K.’s third largest supermarket chain and British arm of Walmart, also announced plans to expand into the c-store space to directly compete with rivals Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.

“Convenience is where all the supermarkets seem to be going. We’ve got the sites so we might as well have a shot at it,” Green told the news source, adding, “If we’re going to do it then we will want someone world class.”

Asda CEO Andy Clarke told Reuters that the grocer is exploring the opportunity for convenience stores, an idea the retailer previously rejected because it wanted to maintain its single pricing model.

“In the next five years, and towards the end of that time horizon, we will explore the opportunity for convenience, the sub 3,000 square foot retail space that we don’t currently trade,” he said.

Reuters notes that both Tesco and Sainsbury have long established convenience store businesses and continue to invest heavily in the concept. Morrisons is also aggressively investing in c-stores, aiming to have 100 stores by the end of 2013 and 200 by the end of 2014.