Stephen Jones
Stephen is The Grocer’s senior retail reporter. He leads our coverage of Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Iceland as well as retailers including Booths, Holland & Barrett, Whole Foods Market and Hotel Chocolat.
Prior to joining The Grocer in December 2022, he was transportation reporter at Business Insider, where he covered the global operations of major automakers, airlines and global shipping. He first joined Insider in July 2021 as a careers reporter.
Before that he spent three years covering business, retail, and leadership for Management Today and spent a short period as a match day reporter for the Non-League paper.
Contact info
- Tel:
- 01293 610272
- Email:
- stephen.jones@thegrocer.co.uk
Analysis & FeaturesFrozen food 2024: frozen fish in fashion as volumes rise
Volume sales of frozen fish are up 2.6%, or 3.1 million kilos. And with average price per kilo down 4.5%, it’s an increasingly attractive option to shoppers
NewsTesco enters Christmas dinner wars with £11.05 meal for six
The eight-product festive meal is ‘even cheaper than last year’, Tesco said
NewsSainsbury’s targeting more ‘travel hubs’ after opening its first airport c-store
Sainsbury’s wants to open more stores in airports and train stations after opening the new store at Edinburgh Airport
Grocer 33Asda Boldon Colliery: Grocer 33 store of the week
‘Retail is pretty simple, but hard. We’ll put a can of beans on the shelf and sell the can of beans with the best service we can give’
Grocer 33Asda provides ‘calm oasis’ for stormy Saturday shop
Asda Boldon Colliery’s seasonal displays were ‘mightily impressive’
NewsSainsbury’s extends Nectar partnership with Woodland Trust
Sainsbury’s shoppers will now be able to contribute their Nectar loyalty points towards woodland conservation work until 2027
Analysis & FeaturesPizza 2024: own-label pizza buoyed by NPD flurry
Retailers have invested significantly in their own pizza ranges over the past year
NewsAldi kicks off Christmas dinner wars with offer to feed six for less than £12
Aldi is offering a turkey dinner with all the trimmings for six people for £11.45, or £1.91 per head
NewsHolland & Barrett to add hundreds of new food and drink lines in January
‘We are nobody’s primary shop, they have to make a conscious decision to come to us,’ group product director April Preston told The Grocer
Analysis & FeaturesReady meals 2024: brands blaze NPD trail in ready meals
Brits love chilled ready meals. They’ve spent £71.2m more on lines from Charlie Bigham’s, Rustlers, Wasabi and the like
NewsWaitrose expands Caffè Nero tie-up with new in-store cafés
A bespoke new café format will open in an initial five Waitrose stores
NewsIceland extends interest-free loans scheme throughout 2025
More than 27,000 Iceland shoppers have borrowed using the loans scheme since it launched
NewsWaitrose recalls Zoe Daily30+ supplement over safety concerns
Three batches of the exclusive Zoe 30+ supplement line have been recalled by Waitrose
Grocer 33Waitrose Meanwood, Leeds: Grocer 33 store of the week
‘Leeds is a tough trading environment. There’s a lot of competition and lots of different customer types’
NewsLidl ‘accelerates’ store opening plans with six stores in one day
It marks a new period of “accelerated“ expansion for the discounter, following a slowdown of its rollout over recent years
NewsRobinsons launches augmented reality ‘mirror’ to push Wicked squash in Tesco
The activation allowed shoppers to visualise themselves as either ‘bad’ witch Elphaba or ‘good’ Glinda, the two main characters in Wicked
NewsWaitrose piloting new customer service training to ‘raise the bar’ on store experience
Waitrose now views customer service as its key advantage over rival grocers, which have closed the gap on product quality
NewsAldi continues pre-Christmas store rollout with four new sites in one day
Aldi has set the long-term target of opening 1,500 UK stores, and intends to invest £1.4bn into its store estate by the end of 2025
NewsM&S to give 2,000 young people ‘first step’ in retail to curb youth unemployment crisis
The new “ambitious” multi-year strategy, in partnership with The King’s Trust, aims to provide support through its Marks & Start programme
NewsHotel Chocolat renews international ambitions with new US stores planned
The openings, which are planned for March 2025, mark the beginning of a new period of expansion under owner Mars