Kwik Save

[glenn_99]

I believe some Kwik Save stores have been sold off. What will happen to the remaining stores?

[Buenchico]

Somerfield are currently trying to sell off all of their loss-making Kwik Save stores in blocks. The only confirmed bidder seems to be Baugur (owners of Iceland) who have expressed an interest in some of the stores.

So some of the stores will trade as Iceland. The physical size of many of the Kwik Save stores means that many of them are two small to be of interest to firms like Walmart (owners of Asda) and Tesco. Morrison are unlikely to be seeking many additional stores as they are still rationalising their business after taking over Safeway. Sainsbury might want one or two of the stores but it's unlikely that they would be interested in many of them. Waitrose is one of the remaining 'big players' who are looking to expand their business but the customer profiles of Kwik Save and Waitrose are so different that Waitrose might find the locations of many of the stores unappealing (i.e. Waitrose want to put stores in areas where sun-dried tomatoes outsell baked beans whereas Kwik Save stores often serve the needs of less affluent customers).

If none of the companies mentioned above buy up blocks of Kwik Save stores, it's likely that the stores may temporarily close completely, pending sales of the premises one by one. At this stage, watch out for the two firms who are both keen to expand into smaller-sized stores, Aldi and Lidl.

So, in summary, the only company which is known to be moving into the old Kwik Save stores is Iceland but I'd be very surprised if Aldi and Lidl didn't take over quite a few.

Chris

[Carol Anne]

Chris, I cant help noticing that Aldi and Lidl stores are unique in the way they are fitted out, compared to the Asda's Sainsburys etc. Not only unique but the model is almost identical. Are they connected in any way or I wonder if one copied the other?

[Buenchico]

Glenn: I've just realised that I should have included Netto in with Lidl and Aldi as a possible name to see on the former Kwik Save stores.

Carol Anne: Both Aldi and Lidl are German firms. They've imported the store layout which works well for their similar business philosophies in Germany.

Chris

[gammaray]

I once witnessed two Kwik Save staff Kicking frozen lamb joints around their car park. The sad thing is when they'd finished they picked up the joints and took them inside to put into the freezers for customers to buy. The death of this store can't come "Kwik" enough for me. They were the poor man's poor man of retail food markets.

[dzug]

I think all the stores have now been sold - most of them (171) as a going concern along with the brand name. The rest have been sold off to other supermarkets less a few that will be rebranded to Somerfield.

[gweniesarah]

half of the kwiksave stores has been sold to a company called bttf, a hundred or so will convert to somerfield, another 70 or so have been sold to other companys, and the rest close down by the end of march