Spar and Palmer & Harvey McLane appear to have ended up splitting what was left of Somerfield’s beleaguered Mace empire pretty much evenly between them.
Delivered wholesale operator P&H - which grabbed the rights to the Mace fascia in Scotland at the end of May by acquiring the Aberness wholesale business from Somerfield - this week revealed it had signed up 36 of the independent Mace retailers that Somerfield had listed as up for grabs following the deal.
However, Scottish Spar wholesaler CJ Lang, which had already started snatching disaffected Mace retailers from Somerfield (‘Spar confident of recruits as two more Maces
desert Somerfield’, The Grocer, May 21, p 5) said it had now persuaded a total of 25 Mace retailers to sign on the dotted line. It is understood most of those retailers had already decided to switch over to Spar prior to P&H’s deal.
In particular, many had become frustrated with life under Somerfield and delays over the roll-out of the long-promised Somerfield at Mace fascia which failed to get past a two-store trial.
However, rival Nisa-Today’s claims to have already creamed off the best 10 Mace stores available in Scotland.
A spokeswoman said: “We specifically only targeted those that were at the top-end.
“We did not seek to recruit large numbers of them because they were too small.”
P&H, which has now united the Mace group under one wholesaler in Scotland, England and Wales following its deal for the Aberness business, said it would start deliveries to its 36 Scottish independent Mace members from Monday (July 4). It also has a deal to supply the same number of Somerfield-owned sites in Scotland from July 11.
Commercial director Peter Austen said: “We now have a firm base on which to build the brand to our target of 120 Scottish Mace retailers by this time next year.”
CJ Lang said deliveries to all 25 of its new Spar members would be up and running by July 18.
Corporate affairs director Archie Gilchrist said: “We are not trying to create any mud slinging with P&H but we are delighted to have signed up these new members. This only started because retailers came to us unhappy with their dealings with Somerfield and we are delighted to welcome them on board.”
Simon Mowbray
Delivered wholesale operator P&H - which grabbed the rights to the Mace fascia in Scotland at the end of May by acquiring the Aberness wholesale business from Somerfield - this week revealed it had signed up 36 of the independent Mace retailers that Somerfield had listed as up for grabs following the deal.
However, Scottish Spar wholesaler CJ Lang, which had already started snatching disaffected Mace retailers from Somerfield (‘Spar confident of recruits as two more Maces
desert Somerfield’, The Grocer, May 21, p 5) said it had now persuaded a total of 25 Mace retailers to sign on the dotted line. It is understood most of those retailers had already decided to switch over to Spar prior to P&H’s deal.
In particular, many had become frustrated with life under Somerfield and delays over the roll-out of the long-promised Somerfield at Mace fascia which failed to get past a two-store trial.
However, rival Nisa-Today’s claims to have already creamed off the best 10 Mace stores available in Scotland.
A spokeswoman said: “We specifically only targeted those that were at the top-end.
“We did not seek to recruit large numbers of them because they were too small.”
P&H, which has now united the Mace group under one wholesaler in Scotland, England and Wales following its deal for the Aberness business, said it would start deliveries to its 36 Scottish independent Mace members from Monday (July 4). It also has a deal to supply the same number of Somerfield-owned sites in Scotland from July 11.
Commercial director Peter Austen said: “We now have a firm base on which to build the brand to our target of 120 Scottish Mace retailers by this time next year.”
CJ Lang said deliveries to all 25 of its new Spar members would be up and running by July 18.
Corporate affairs director Archie Gilchrist said: “We are not trying to create any mud slinging with P&H but we are delighted to have signed up these new members. This only started because retailers came to us unhappy with their dealings with Somerfield and we are delighted to welcome them on board.”
Simon Mowbray
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