My Local is already focusing on expansion plans – just 12 weeks after taking over the convenience chain from Morrisons.
Mike Greene, chief executive officer for My Local, said the company was looking for “the right stores” to grow the business. He told Retail Express that they would ideally be looking for 2,000sq ft stores to expand its 140-strong chain. But he refused to put a figure on the number of stores they are looking to grow by. “It’s not about numbers, it’s about the right stores,” he said. “We want to keep the business growing and not make bad decisions.”
Nathaniel Meyohas, partner at Greybull Capital, the investment firm behind Greene’s takeover, added: “It depends what opportunities come as we have a scalable business model. We are already seeing business opportunities to buy other stores.”
As part of its expansion plans, My Local could also open up to independent store owners as a franchise in the near future, said Greene. “We want to make sure we’re operating exactly as we want first, but becoming a symbol franchise is part of our two- and three-year review,” he said. “Independents have the community involvement that we’re focusing on and our team has the experience to provide a good package for them.”
At its first supplier summit, held in Leeds on January 27, My Local said that despite sales initially falling behind those of M Local before the takeover in October 2015, sales across the chain are now growing 1-2% each week.
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