Iceland in The Range

The ‘shop in shop’ format stocks a significant selection of Iceland groceries within The Range’s stores

Iceland Foods has extended its partnership with The Range, with the rollout of more ‘shop in shop’ formats.

As part of the latest wave of openings, the frozen food giant has opened new concessions in four The Range stores in Bolton, Bradford, Weston-super-Mare and Weymouth.

Two more are set to open in The Range stores in Glenrothes and Oswestry, the Shropshire town where Iceland was founded.

It means the partnership has now been extended to 113 stores, since it began in 2018 with an initial three stores.

The large-format concessions are essentially a whole Iceland shop within The Range stores. They stock a significant selection of Iceland’s range, including exclusive partnerships with TGI Fridays, Greggs and MyProtein. They are heavily signposted with Iceland branding, but are staffed by The Range staff, wearing The Range uniforms.

The two business have often described the collaboration as creating a “true one-stop shop” by combining groceries with The Range’s SKUs that span home, garden, leisure and electronics among others.

“We’re committed to ensuring that our customers, wherever they are, can access our exciting and value-led range of products,” said Iceland Foods international and wholesale director Justin Addison.

“Whether that is in our stores, via our home delivery service, at The Food Warehouse or partner outlets like The Range. We’re excited to be deepening this partnership and adding additional Iceland departments and we’re excited that more people will get to know our much-loved, good-value meals and snacks.”

Read more: One-stop shop: What does the alliance of Iceland and The Range offer?

The concessions form one strand of what is a growing footprint of stores owned by the Iceland brand, which now includes more than 950 Iceland and larger-format Food Warehouse stores. The grocer has also been growing its presence in the convenience space, following the launch of a new Iceland Local format earlier this year, as revealed by The Grocer.

Executive director Richard Walker told The Grocer in July it would target more Iceland Local openings, in place of its Swift convenience brand, which would all close.

This week the Grocer revealed that the supermarket has relaunched its fresh fruit and veg lines as it targets further growth in the category. The partnership with Irish supplier Keelings comes a month after the retailer announced its largest-ever launch of new frozen products, with 500 new lines rolling into stores.