JB Beaumont has become the tenth independent in The Grocer Top 50 ranking of independent retailers to be snapped up in the 10 months since the list was published.
Just one has become part of another independent - AJ Gillespie was acquired by CJ Lang, number 19 in The Grocer Top 50 - while the others have been swallowed up by the multiples or co-operatives.
Family-run JB Beaumont has been acquired by Sainsbury, bringing the supermarket’s convenience store portfolio to 260 - some 2% of the market.
The Costcutter-branded stores will eventually be renamed Sainsbury’s at Beaumont’s, in a similar fashion to the Jackson’s and Bells stores bought earlier in the year.
Ranked 48 in The Grocer Top 50, JB Beaumont has six sites in the East Midlands between 2,220 sq ft and 5,100 sq ft and this year turned over £13m.
It will continue to operate as a separate unit run by the current management, led by managing director Louise Beaumont. All 193 members of staff will be retained.
Beaumont said the company had not been seeking offers, but was impressed by the Sainsbury bid because it would grow the business through acquisitions and increase range while
retaining local identity. She said: “Sainsbury is allowing us to run the business and we are very excited about its plans. New stores will be added and we will have continuity of management and staff.
“Prices will be coming down and more products introduced, keeping the focus we have on fresh.”
Sainsbury’s managing director of convenience, Jim McCarthy, said the move was part of a plan to grow sales in the convenience business by £400m to nearly £1bn in the next three years, adding: “Beaumont has quality stores in good locations and it fits perfectly with our new convenience strategy to grow our portfolio.”
In a recent interview with The Grocer’s sister publication Convenience Store, he also revealed that Sainsbury’s expects to grow the division to 400-500 convenience stores in the next few years.
Amy Balchin
Just one has become part of another independent - AJ Gillespie was acquired by CJ Lang, number 19 in The Grocer Top 50 - while the others have been swallowed up by the multiples or co-operatives.
Family-run JB Beaumont has been acquired by Sainsbury, bringing the supermarket’s convenience store portfolio to 260 - some 2% of the market.
The Costcutter-branded stores will eventually be renamed Sainsbury’s at Beaumont’s, in a similar fashion to the Jackson’s and Bells stores bought earlier in the year.
Ranked 48 in The Grocer Top 50, JB Beaumont has six sites in the East Midlands between 2,220 sq ft and 5,100 sq ft and this year turned over £13m.
It will continue to operate as a separate unit run by the current management, led by managing director Louise Beaumont. All 193 members of staff will be retained.
Beaumont said the company had not been seeking offers, but was impressed by the Sainsbury bid because it would grow the business through acquisitions and increase range while
retaining local identity. She said: “Sainsbury is allowing us to run the business and we are very excited about its plans. New stores will be added and we will have continuity of management and staff.
“Prices will be coming down and more products introduced, keeping the focus we have on fresh.”
Sainsbury’s managing director of convenience, Jim McCarthy, said the move was part of a plan to grow sales in the convenience business by £400m to nearly £1bn in the next three years, adding: “Beaumont has quality stores in good locations and it fits perfectly with our new convenience strategy to grow our portfolio.”
In a recent interview with The Grocer’s sister publication Convenience Store, he also revealed that Sainsbury’s expects to grow the division to 400-500 convenience stores in the next few years.
Amy Balchin
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