Tesco-owned One Stop has confirmed its acquisition of 33 Alfred Jones Ltd Spar stores, following last month’s OFT approval.
This brings the One Stop estate to 698 stores with the new sites located predominantly in the North West.
It is now focusing on refurbishing the sites and they are all expected to be converted to One Stops by January 2014. All staff at the 33 stores are expected to be retained by One Stop.
Chief executive officer Tony Reed said: “We’re delighted to secure local jobs in these areas and extend a warm welcome to the store staff. They are joining a growing business that invests in its people and we look forward to introducing the successful One Stop format into these new stores.
“This deal illustrates our continued investment in the business to deliver our growth strategy and follows the opening of our third distribution centre in Wakefield earlier this year.
He also gave an update on One Stop’s independent franchise offer. “We are also pleased with the progress that we are making on the new franchise concept that we’re developing for independent retailers,” added Reed. “There continues to be huge interest in the trade; the trials are progressing well and we hope to share an update on this next month. These are exciting times for One Stop and we look forward to maintaining this momentum into next year and beyond, with the strong plans for growth we have in place.”
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