Iceland retail chain makes Swift departure from convenience store brand

Deeside-based supermarket group, Iceland, is to close its five Swift convenience stores, but no staff will be made redundant.

Four stores will close permanently, and the fifth will be converted into a standard Iceland store.

Staff at the five stores – Finsbury Park, Archway, Wembley and Hounslow in London, and Four Lanes End in Newcastle – will be able to transfer to nearby Iceland stores, on the same working hours.

The chain made the decision to close Swift-branded shops as it begins the roll-out of its ‘Local’ sites, with the first opening in Wolverhampton on March 31.

The Local fascia offers ambient, chilled and frozen aisles, own-label products and items from partnered brands Slimming World, Myproten and Harry Ramsden’s.

The Swift format was first launched in Newcastle in March 2021. The last of the five stores opened in Finsbury Park in August 2022.

Iceland executive chairman, Richard Walker, told industry publication The Grocer that the Swift branding “didn’t work”.

He said: “Clearly through the pandemic, convenience stores had done so well and it was a sector that we thought was quite interesting.

“We had confidence from opening The Food Warehouse that we could open a new fascia and meet customers’ needs and they would instantly respond.

“However, in retrospect launching a new format with separate branding wasn’t the right way of doing it.

“Particularly with convenience store retailing, I think the Iceland logo and brand is really well thought of and recognised in London and we must never underestimate that.”

He added: “It wasn’t a waste of time. We learnt a lot as a business, and we’ve taken some learnings from Swifts and adopted them in Iceland and we’re going to keep trying new concepts and ideas.”