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Asda to open 110 convenience stores this month
Asda is opening 110 Asda Express convenience stores this month – the majority of which were former Co-op’s and stores owned by petrol forecourt firm EG Group – as it accelerates its growth strategy in convenience.
EG Group is owned by Mohsin and Zuber Issa and private equity firm TDR Capita, who bought Asda as part of a consortium in October 2020. The forecourt firm acquired 240 sites from the Coop and EG Group in April 2022 in a deal worth £438m, which it plans to convert to Asda Express stores before the end of March.
The move underlines the ongoing multimillion-pound investment by the supermarket.
So far, it has converted 259 sites and opened eight new Asda Express sites, and the new openings this month – the largest in a single month – also bring Asda’s combined supermarket and convenience estate to its biggest in its 58-year history and on track to reach 1,000 stores in the UK for the first time, it said.
EG Group owns 5,200 petrol stations across the UK and Europe.
Asda’s vice president of convenience Andy Perry, said that Asda’s ongoing expansion into the fast-growing £40bn convenience and £60bn food-to-go channel had been a key component of the retailer’s strategy since the acquisition by the Issa brothers and TDR Capital and “its long-term strategy to become the number two player in UK grocery”.
“February is a transformational month for programme with a record number of store openings and conversion of all former Co-op sites to Asda Express sites,” he said. “The teams have worked at pace to reach this point and we look forward to bringing Asda’s quality and low prices to many more communities across the UK.”
The new stores will be situated across the UK, from the Isle of Skye to Leicester, Shewsbury, Plymouth and Ipswich, although many will be across southern England, outside Asda’s traditional heartland in the north of England.