Midcounties Co-op reports 3% hike in Christmas food sales

Christmas food sales grew 3.3% at the Midcounties Co-op as the retailer boosted its seasonal range to include a record number of locally sourced products. The like-for-like sales hike was helped by the member-owned society’s busiest ever Christmas Eve.

The business, which operates 180 convenience stores and 45 larger supermarkets in central and southern England, said it enjoyed “good growth” across all of its counties.

In the week leading up to Christmas Day, sales of its locally sourced ranges of more than 150 food and drink products were up 28% on the same period in the prior year.

A dozen first-time local suppliers, including Beau’s Bakehouse, Cottage Delight and Godminster Cheese, added their products to the range and proved popular with customers, Midcounties added.

The society’s Christmas pre-order service was extended to all eight of its larger-format food markets, which offer the biggest ‘Best of Our Counties’ range. This allowed customers to pre-order locally reared free-range turkeys from Adlington Farm near Coventry and meat boxes from Todenham Manor Farm in the Cotswolds direct to store for collection.

“Our excellent seasonal performance is a credit to the hard work of our colleagues and suppliers who worked so hard to provide our customers with the very best products and service during December,” said chief retail officer Rupert Newman.

“They include all of the valued suppliers that contribute to our ‘Best of Our Counties’ range of locally and ethically sourced food and drink products. Our stores offer a number of products that are sourced from within the store’s home or neighbouring county, which reduces food miles and means that our customers know exactly where their food comes from and how it has been produced.

“The performance of our locally sourced ranges was a particular highlight in December and has strengthened our commitment to further increase the number of products we buy from locally based independent suppliers.”

Midcounties, which supports 40 local food banks, had donated 100,000 grocery products by the end of December, the company added.

Warwickshire-headquartered Midcounties Co-op operates across Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Buckinghamshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, the West Midlands, Wiltshire and Worcestershire.