Thousands of sub post offices could be saved from extinction by bolting on convenience, but there's no need for another symbol group. That's the view of Londis sales director Terry Bedford, responding to Colin Baker, general secretary of the National Federation of SubPostmasters, who said POs should follow the lead of the Newsagents' Federation and form their own group. Baker, who called on the government to bring forward its plans to subsidise rural post offices, said: "We must closely examine ways of obtaining more of the local spend and a convenience mix could be the answer." However, he admitted the symbol group idea was embryonic and said the Federation still had to discuss the idea with potential partners. Bedford said Londis had exhibited at the recent Sub Post Office Exhibition in Telford and gained "a high number of quality leads". He added: "We estimate there are 6,500 post offices right for conversion to a c-store format. "They should talk to an existing symbol group which already has technology, supply chain, own brand, fascia and a whole raft of services firmly in place." Bedford said most of the post offices ripe for conversion had sales areas between 600 and 700 sq ft. He added: "We have 253 sub post offices trading under the Londis fascia. It makes sense to use the Londis name and the strong Post Office branding. It's a marriage of two strong titles." Post offices have been going under at the rate of more than 200 a year. This year the casualty rate is expected to top 400. {{NEWS }}

Topics