One Stop has expanded its franchise trial for independent retailers to five stores.

The Tesco-owned convenience store chain announced its plans to develop a franchise offer in April.

Its original pilot store, in Wiltshire, has since been joined by four more stores - two in the Midlands and two in Wales. One Stop said it would be looking at different store types as it looked to refine its model and tailor its offer to different store types and locations.

Of the four new stores, one is a larger CTN, one an existing convenience store, another a Post Office and the last one a converted established symbol store.

“These new partnerships will help to shape the model in the future, as we refine our systems and find out what works for One Stop and our independent retailers,” said CEO Tony Reed.

“We’re also starting to set up the infrastructure to enable us to roll out more franchise stores in the future.”

This, said Reed, included the appointment of a team of business development managers, as well as the various support functions required. More details would be revealed in February but he indicated that so far the trial was working well.

One Stop has also been accredited by the British Franchise Association.

Figures published this week at Companies House revealed One Stop’s sales grew 8.6% to £719.9m for the year to 23 February, while pre-tax profits jumped 31.2% to £37m.

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