Shell has finally pulled the plug on its stalled bid to develop a chain of standalone Shell Select stores, and will close the only one, on The Strand in London, at the end of the month. A spokesman denied its first foray into pure convenience retailing had been a failure. "Sales at The Strand store were strong," he said. The decision to scrap the roll-out plans bore "no relation to the performance of that particular store". But he conceded convenience retailing is "very competitive and a whole new step for Shell" which did "not represent the right way forward". Opening The Strand outlet in 1998, Shell announced ambitious plans to roll out standalone Select stores in British cities once the format had been fine tuned. The spokesman said: "Shell is primarily a fuel retailer. We are going to stick with what we do best. First and foremost our customers want petrol, and then a snack and a drink." {{NEWS }}