Member Article

McColls intends to open 250 convenience stores before close of 2016

Convenience retail chain McColl’s says it intends to open 250 stores by the end of 2016, to bring its national network to 1,000.

In a note to shareholders McColl’s Retail Group plc celebrated the opening of its 750th store this week, and laid out its expansion plans for the convenience division of its business.

The move follows McColl’s flotation earlier this year, which failed to attract the attention from investors that had been anticipated.

The firm said it planned to reduce the number of newsagents it operates in the two years to the end of 2016 - bringing the total from 540 down to 350.

In recent years McColl’s has pursued a strategy of converting newsagents premises into food and wine convenience store formats.

James Lancaster, chairman and CEO of McColl’s Retail Group, said: “This is an exciting milestone for the Group as we continue to expand our UK convenience store footprint and build on the success of our IPO earlier this year.

“We are continuing to respond to the needs of our customers by improving and extending the range of products and services we offer and our store expansion and conversion plan remains on track.

“We are delighted to have opened in New Hedges village and look forward to providing an excellent service to our customers there.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .