Morrisons has announced it is planning an immediate re-entry into the convenience market on the same day that its former M Local c-stores were relaunched under the new ownership of Mike Greene.
Morrisons is to pilot a convenience food offer in five petrol filling station shops owned by Motor Fuel Group (MFG).
The pilot will start by the end of the year with the retailer supplying branded and own-brand food to the forecourt stores.
The shops, all above 1,200 sq. ft. will be branded Morrisons – not M Local – and will receive deliveries of fresh and ambient food through Morrisons’ logistics network.
“As we said at our recent interim results, we want to consider new opportunities to Serve Customers Better in the convenience market where the capital commitment is low and the Morrisons resourcing is light-touch,” said Morrisons CEO David Potts.
“This pilot in Motor Fuel Group filling stations will allow us to trial one opportunity in this growing channel.”
MFG has 373 stations operating under the BP, Shell, Texaco and JET fuel brands. It is the second largest independent forecourt operator in the UK.
Morrisons sold its 140-strong M Local convenience chain to Mike Greene in September for £25m in a deal backed by private equity house Greybull Capital. The stores officially stopped trading under the Morrisons branding yesterday and were all re-opened this morning as My Local stores. Greene expects the business, which is being supplied by Nisa, to turnover £300m within 18-months.
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