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Asda plans to open 300 convenience stores and create 10,000 new jobs over the next four years as it tries to capture a bigger share of the grocery market and potentially overtake rival Sainsbury’s to become the UK’s second-biggest supermarket.
The retailer, which is controlled by the billionaire Issa brothers and private equity firm TDR Capital, currently has just two Asda Express stores – in Sutton Coldfield near Birmingham and in Tottenham Hale in north London.
He has already said that he plans to turn 30 by October next year and now he has set a much bigger ambition. The 300 planned Asda Express sites will be in addition to the 132 convenience stores the group is acquiring from the Co-op.
Asda co-owner Mohsin Isa said: “A key part of our growth strategy is to provide customers with more opportunities to shop at Asda close to where they live or work. With more than three-quarters of the UK population visiting a convenience store in the last 12 months, the potential for growth in this market is significant. Our ambition is to be the convenient destination of choice by providing shoppers with a comprehensive and convenient range of products and services under one roof.”
A move to convenience stores in residential areas EG Group, which also owns Issas and TDR, said it planned to open 200 Asda on the move convenience sites at its petrol forecourts.
Asda has historically focused on large stores. It ventured into smaller sites in 2010 when it bought the 200-strong UK chain Netto for more than £750m but these outlets are much larger than the planned Asda Express stores.
If the group goes ahead with its plans, it will have the same number of Asda-branded convenience stores as Sainsbury’s, which has 800 smaller stores, as well as its larger supermarkets, but will outpace Tesco, which has around 2,000 express stores and 700 one. Stop the outlets.
The busy market also includes Little Waitrose and the Co-op which competes with the likes of McCall’s and thousands of independents, many trading under brands such as Londis, Spar and Budgens.
Morrisons, the UK’s fifth largest supermarket behind Aldi, is expanding into the market, supplying independents under the Morrisons Daily banner, after a failed attempt in 2015 to run its own convenience store chain, M Local.
Amazon, meanwhile, has tested several checkout-free fresh stores, where shoppers can pay via a phone app, but has paused expansion in the UK where it appears to have struggled to win over shoppers.
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