Northern Irish independent retailer Long's Supermarket is to adopt Musgrave Group's SuperValu fascia.

Contracts are expected to be finalised next week between the two chains. Long's Supermarket will be rebranded as Long's SuperValu. The chain will still be owned by Long's, but will be supplied by Musgrave Retail Partners NI.

Long's five supermarkets in Northern Ireland would receive full external and internal rebranding, said MD Brian Long. The Woodburn store in Derry would be the first to get a facelift, with work expected to be completed by June.

Long's had struggled to secure suitable supply contracts, which would no longer be a problem with backing from a larger organisation, said Long.

"To a supplier we are a small company and because they are being squeezed they are having to trade more efficiently and justify their pricing," he added.

"Suppliers were asking for drop quantities to be increased from half a container to a full container for some products, which we couldn't do. Musgrave is going in the same direction as us. It has a local focus and wants to support local communities. We'll get the benefits of the SuperValu name while still retaining our history."

Long's Supermarket is 39th on The Grocer's ranking of the Top 50 independents with sales of £18m and a pre-tax profit of £455,000.

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