Sainsbury's Plan To Open 100 New Convenience Stores

Fri, 01 Jun 2007

British supermarket giant Sainsbury's has unveiled ambitious plans to increase its estate of convenience stores by up to 30 per cent over the next three years.

Justin King, the retailer's chief executive, revealed his plan to at a meeting held to announce better than expected set of full-year trading results last week.

An extra 100 Sainsbury's Local stores are expected to open across the country by 2010, taking the company's convenience store portfolio from 326 to 426 UK stores in total.

Only three weeks ago Sainsbury's announced it would re-brand all its 'Jacksons and Bells' fascias as 'Sainsbury's Local' in a bid to further reduce costs and increase sales .

Justin King said the convenience business would play a significant role in "making Sainsbury's great again".

"Our current store estate provides substantial development opportunities, and we are seeking and developing a pipeline of new stores," he added.

Sainsbury's is expected to shortly name the three new regional managing directors who will take charge of the newly restructured convenience business .

The chief executive also revealed a new set of three-year targets, including the aim of raising sales by an extra £3.5 billion. Half of the retailer's current store estate, including Locals, is set to be refurbished, while thirty new supermarkets will also be built.

The news followed the company's announcement of an increase in full-year underlying profits, by 42.3 per cent to £380 million on sales up 6.9 per cent to £18.5 billion. Like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, rose by 5.9 per cent.