Bells and Sainsbury are aiming to develop 75-80 dual-branded c-stores by the end of 2005.
Speaking at the opening of the first Sainsbury’s at Bells store in Peterlee, Co Durham, Bells Stores joint MD David Graham said the aim was to acquire 20-25 stores in the next 18 months to add to the Bells portfolio of 54. He said: “The rebadging programme will be very aggressive, but we also have a clear expansion strategy.”
The 2,200 sq ft Peterlee store features 500 Sainsbury’s own label lines, predominantly in chilled, fresh and grocery; 15m of chillers; new lighting and new flooring. A second dual-branded site will open in Bishopsgarth, Stockton-on-Tees, this month.
Buying at Bells, currently handled through Nisa, will gradually switch to Sainsbury, which will introduce chilled and fresh lines to stores as they are refurbished, said Graham.
“At the moment, Sainsbury is delivering to a temporary temperature-controlled container at our Skelton RDC, then we are delivering to the trial store in our vehicles. We are looking at several options for scaling this up as we don’t have facilities at Skelton for handling larger volumes.”
Price cuts had already been introduced on high volume lines such as milk and bread at Bells Stores, he said.
“One of the most positive things about all this is that we are creating new jobs as we will need more people with the new emphasis on chilled and fresh.”
Although there had been some scepticism about the decision to operate Bells as a separate unit rather than merge it into Sainsbury’s, analysts said Bells had such brand equity in the north east that a joint format made sense. Likewise, Bells had experience of trading in neighbourhood locations and a strong impulse, news and alcohol offer.
Elaine Watson
Speaking at the opening of the first Sainsbury’s at Bells store in Peterlee, Co Durham, Bells Stores joint MD David Graham said the aim was to acquire 20-25 stores in the next 18 months to add to the Bells portfolio of 54. He said: “The rebadging programme will be very aggressive, but we also have a clear expansion strategy.”
The 2,200 sq ft Peterlee store features 500 Sainsbury’s own label lines, predominantly in chilled, fresh and grocery; 15m of chillers; new lighting and new flooring. A second dual-branded site will open in Bishopsgarth, Stockton-on-Tees, this month.
Buying at Bells, currently handled through Nisa, will gradually switch to Sainsbury, which will introduce chilled and fresh lines to stores as they are refurbished, said Graham.
“At the moment, Sainsbury is delivering to a temporary temperature-controlled container at our Skelton RDC, then we are delivering to the trial store in our vehicles. We are looking at several options for scaling this up as we don’t have facilities at Skelton for handling larger volumes.”
Price cuts had already been introduced on high volume lines such as milk and bread at Bells Stores, he said.
“One of the most positive things about all this is that we are creating new jobs as we will need more people with the new emphasis on chilled and fresh.”
Although there had been some scepticism about the decision to operate Bells as a separate unit rather than merge it into Sainsbury’s, analysts said Bells had such brand equity in the north east that a joint format made sense. Likewise, Bells had experience of trading in neighbourhood locations and a strong impulse, news and alcohol offer.
Elaine Watson
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