T&S Stores has decided to step on the gas again after a year spent focusing on its One Stop c-stores and systems, with plans to reposition its retail offer and renew its drive for growth. A handful of stores has just undergone major refurbishments, and chief executive Jim McCarthy said, depending on results, these could provide the basis for a major renewal and repositioning of the One Stop estate. McCarthy said: "The outside still looks the same, but the interior is vastly different. There will be less ambient grocery and far more emphasis on chilled and fresh." The repositioning is part of a new three-year strategy during which T&S plans to renew its growth drive with plans to open at least 100 new stores. After several years of rapid growth, during which it took over regional chains M&W, One Stop Convenience Stores and Day & Nite, the number of One Stop stores has fallen in the past year, with a net reduction of 18 to 870. McCarthy said: "We've sold off a number of marginal stores. But credit should go to our estates team because we've opened 18 new stores and these are trading well ahead of target." One of the main tasks carried out during the year has been to integrate the acquired stores and rationalise systems across the group. A new automatic replenishment system for orders from warehouse, linked to stores' EPoS systems, has been introduced. T&S now wants to work with suppliers to introduce automatic replenishment for direct deliveries." T&S has announced record results for the eighth successive year, with pre-tax profits for the 52 weeks to December 29 up 11% at £37.1m on turnover up 5% at £933.3m. Like-for-like sales rose 5% and operating margins in One Stop stores improved slightly from 5.6% to 5.7%. {{NEWS }}