Iceland to ‘more than double’ number of Local convenience stores

Iceland Foods plans to “more than double” the number of Iceland Local stores, in a major expansion of its convenience partnerships.

The supermarket currently supplies around 30 Iceland Local stores, run by partners including Greens Retail, EG on The Move and SGN.

Over the next two months, it will reach “60 going on 70” if its pipeline of potential partnerships launches on time, Iceland head of international and partnerships Justin Addison told The Grocer. The new partnerships would be a mixture of Iceland Local and some standard Iceland fascias, Addison said.

Convenience expertise

Iceland first launched the Local format in April 2023 at a petrol forecourt in Wolverhampton in partnership with SGN Retail. Executive chairman Richard Walker later told The Grocer the format would replace Iceland’s Swift stores. All five Swift stores were closed later that year.

“We had a go with Swift and managing convenience ourselves,” Addison said. “However we soon realised that it wasn’t going to work as we don’t have the specialist knowledge within the business when it comes to convenience stores.

“But what we can be is a very capable partner to lots of different convenience businesses,” Addison said.

Iceland received approaches on an “hourly basis” from businesses wanting to establish new supply partnerships, he said.

Global push

The convenience expansion comes alongside a major ramp-up of Iceland’s international partnerships around the globe, under its newly rebranded international businesses, which Addison leads.

Having launched its first store in China last month – which Addison believes could be Iceland’s biggest export market – the retailer is also set to announce new partnerships with supermarkets in Australia, the Middle East, Korea, Scandinavia and Turkey.

It’s also in discussions to begin supplying a major UK retailer, Addison said, however he declined to reveal which.

Iceland also has big plans to expand its network of company-run stores, with the aim of doubling its Food Warehouse footprint. The larger format has become its main avenue of growth.