The Co-op’s sales were 7.8% higher for the past three months compared to the same period last year, its best performance in seven years.

The company outpaced a 3.5% growth in grocery sales overall, according to the latest stats from Kantar. The data company said the hot weather drove people to shop locally, with 

More than 263,000 new shoppers entered Co-op stores during the period. Tesco’s Express convenience stores were also reported to have performed well. 

Despite the shopping locally trend, the market share held by independents and symbol groups slipped by 0.1%.

The big winners for the period were the discounters, with Aldi and Lidl achieving sales growths of 8.6% and 12.6%  respectively.

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