Tesco and Sainsbury are frontrunners in the race to pick up the remaining Safeway stores that Morrisons must sell to satisfy regulators.
Waitrose this week picked up 14 stores from the disposal list plus four other Safeway stores and a Morrisons store in Southport in a deal rumoured to be worth £250m.
The deal leaves 38 Safeway stores still up for grabs. And it’s not just the big boys who will be bidding as regional chain Booths is also in the running.
Chairman Edwin Booth said: “We have ambitions to buy stores and have expressed an interest in a number of them.”
Rumours also persist that Morrisons will look to offload Safeway’s smaller stores.
Waitrose MD Steven Esom said this week’s 19-store deal with Morrisons would boost its floorspace by 20% and take store numbers up to 163. The acquisition includes stores in Harrogate, Otley and Willerby, well outside Waitrose’s trading heartland, but easily within reach of its depots in Milton Keynes and Bracknell, said Esom. Refurbishments should begin in May or June when the OFT approved the sale.
“This gives us a good network in the north, where we are looking for extra warehousing. What is very exciting is that the stores are larger than our average, so we can really push our fresh food offer.”
Separately, Morrisons has started meetings with Safeway suppliers to discuss how to drive sales at the chain.
In a letter to Safeway suppliers, Morrisons said the priorities were to halt the volume losses at Safeway and harmonise ranges and buying terms across the two chains.
Waitrose this week picked up 14 stores from the disposal list plus four other Safeway stores and a Morrisons store in Southport in a deal rumoured to be worth £250m.
The deal leaves 38 Safeway stores still up for grabs. And it’s not just the big boys who will be bidding as regional chain Booths is also in the running.
Chairman Edwin Booth said: “We have ambitions to buy stores and have expressed an interest in a number of them.”
Rumours also persist that Morrisons will look to offload Safeway’s smaller stores.
Waitrose MD Steven Esom said this week’s 19-store deal with Morrisons would boost its floorspace by 20% and take store numbers up to 163. The acquisition includes stores in Harrogate, Otley and Willerby, well outside Waitrose’s trading heartland, but easily within reach of its depots in Milton Keynes and Bracknell, said Esom. Refurbishments should begin in May or June when the OFT approved the sale.
“This gives us a good network in the north, where we are looking for extra warehousing. What is very exciting is that the stores are larger than our average, so we can really push our fresh food offer.”
Separately, Morrisons has started meetings with Safeway suppliers to discuss how to drive sales at the chain.
In a letter to Safeway suppliers, Morrisons said the priorities were to halt the volume losses at Safeway and harmonise ranges and buying terms across the two chains.
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