McColl’s sets sights on One Stop on the back of Booker-Tesco deal

McColl’s has announced it is eyeing up buying One Stop stores in the wake of the Booker-Tesco merger.

Speaking at an event with IGD earlier this week, McColl’s chief executive Jonathan Miller said the business would be interested if One Stop was available.

“One Stop is very similar to us and would be another perfect fit for our business,” he said. It follows the company’s acquisition of 298 Co-op stores last year, which are in the process of being rebranded as McColl’s.

Analysts believe Tesco may be forced to offload One Stop stores or hundreds of Tesco Express shops to get clearance from the Competitions and Markets Authority for its merger with Booker.

McColl’s also announced that 25 of its stores will run a trial where they will stock Co-op own-brand products.

By the time the roll out is completed, McColl’s will have 1,300 convenience stores and have annual takings of £1.5bn. The stores will add 30% to McColl’s sales and 40% to its profits.

“We’re also aiming to acquire 40 or 50 shops each year. Seventy-five per cent of these are independent stores,” said Miller.

In 2018, McColl’s will refit its stores with a new layout that caters to current shopping trends.

“We did two trial stores last year and gained double-digit sales increases. We plan to do another 20 this year and then roll out nationally,” he said.