Bestway has outlined plans to consolidate its fascias and focus solely on the Costcutter, Best-one, Bargain Booze and Wine Rack brands.

Currently, the wholesaler has one of the largest number of brands within a symbol portfolio, as it also counts Mace, BBs, Tippl, Central Convenience and Select Convenience in its lineup.

Managing director Dawood Pervez told Better Retailing that the company intends to convert retailers from those stores into its flagship Costcutter, Best-one, Bargain Booze or Wine Rack stores.

There is potential for those stores to also move to its flagship Bargain Booze hybrid model, which combines the brand with the Costcutter or Best-one fascias. A Wine Rack hybrid is also in development.  

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Pervez also confirmed that the company has no intention to continue trials of its BBs and Tippl fascias launched in 2019. Commenting on the plans, he added: “The format is a point of difference as there’s nothing else like it on the market. We’re pushing boundaries on what a good shop looks like.

“We took a lot of lessons with BBs and Tippl going into lockdown and what you’re seeing with Bargain Booze, Wine Rack, Costcutter and Best-one is our response to that. Our ambition is that all our convenience formats will fall under Best-one or Costcutter. We don’t want to introduce more brands.

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“We’re trying to move to a model where its either Best-one or Costcutter. In some cases, these will have a Bargain Booze or Wine Rack. For example, the Central Convenience brand was absolutely fine but we don’t think it had the consumer cut-through.

“An off-licence model will have a lower overall margin mix that a convenience store. There is more growth if you combine it with a good convenience store.”

Pervez said there was no specific time frame for its plans, but stressed Bestway would convert existing retailers rather than offload stores. He also revealed that a wholesale trial with Iceland could also be extended to other stores, following a pilot at a store in Nuneaton.

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