Co-op announces plans to open 100 stores in £160m investment drive

The Co-op has announced plans to open 100 food stores across the UK in 2018, including sites in Yorkshire, creating around 1,600 jobs.

The retailer will invest more than £160m in new stores and major makeovers for a further 150 of its outlets.

New stores are lined up for York, Blackpool; Bristol; Chesterfield; Crewe; Leicester; Manchester; Nottingham; Plymouth and Southampton among other towns and cities.

More than 20 new stores are set to open in London, and up to 18 stores are planned for Scotland.

The news follows twin announcements last month as the Co-op confirmed it had reached an agreement to become exclusive wholesale supplier to the 2,200 stores across York-based Costcutter Supermarkets Group’s network from spring 2018.

Meanwhile, members of Scunthorpe-based Nisa Retail also voted in favour of the Co-op’s offer to buy the delivered wholesale and convenience retail specialist in a £137m deal – a move which is conditional on Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) approval.

Jo Whitfield, chief executive of Co-op Food said: “The Co-op is positively responding to the changes occurring within this dynamic sector. Our Food business is going from strength to strength in what is clearly a challenging retail market.

“We have the ambition for our stores to be at the heart of local life, bringing communities together and offering our members and customers great quality products when and where they need them.”

Stuart Hookins, Co-op’s director of portfolio and development, said: “The Co-op’s extensive acquisitions and refit programme is a fundamental part of our food strategy. Moving forward with a clear purpose and momentum, our expansion plans for 2018 will mean that the Co-op is on track to have opened at least 100 new stores in each of three consecutive years.

“With over one million new active members joining us in the last year, we are always looking for new locations to get closer to where our members and customers live and work and to meet their shopping needs conveniently. Our members are now telling us where they would like to see a new Co-op store opening to serve their community through our suggest-a-site website.”

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close