Fascia Focus

Fascia Focus

Since our 2013 review of the symbol sector in Northern Ireland there has yet again been more change in terms of store numbers and consumer shopping habits.

The independent retail sector has performed well with new store openings across Northern Ireland.

New Nisa stores have opened across NI and the latest, Tom McAvoy’s Milestone store in Rathfriland really is employing state-of-the art design and leading the way in terms of local retailing.

Nisa attempted and failed with a takeover bid for Food Force Ireland, which sources regional products on the ground in NI for Nisa retailers.

Despite this, Nisa stated that it is committed to operating in Northern Ireland.

Henderson Group continues to innovate and have opened flagship Spar and Eurospar stores with the Vivo symbol offering a fantastic opportunity for retailers – Morrison’s VivoXtra in Saintfield being a prime example.

Musgrave Retail Partners NI continues to develop its Mace symbol and this year has already seen a number of additions to the estate. The company recently announced a new SuperValu store to be built in Crossgar and operated by Gabriel Bell with an investment of £1.7 million.

Today’s has increased its store numbers to 98 and has had a lot of success with its ‘no contracts or fees’ approach.

Following the big changes at Costcutter last year through the £5 billion Palmer & Harvey deal and launch of joint buying group Buyco, retailers migrated from Nisa to P&H and Northern Ireland was first up for the change. There were some technical issues but Costcutter has moved forward with new stores – such as Devlin’s Costcutter in Culloville, south Armagh.

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This month has also seen a new name enter the market: Premier. With almost 3,000 stores nationwide, the UK symbol group has opened a new 870 sq ft store in Newtownards, Co Down and is aiming to open more in 2014.

Irish retail company Applegreen will also open its first three stores in 2015. With almost 80 service stations and c-stores across Ireland, it will be interesting to see how the brand develops north of the border.

The historical big threat to independent retailers, the UK multiples, have lost market share in the past 12 months.

The multiples have seen a big decline in business with Tesco’s trading figures the worst in decades of trading.

Sainsbury’s, Britain’s third largest supermarket group, has now reported two consecutive quarters of sales declines. Prior to that, the company had enjoyed nine years of unbroken sales growth. Asda was the only supermarket operating in NI to achieve sales growth in the three months to May.

The multiples are losing market share to the discounters such as Lidl and Aldi who enjoyed significant growth in 2013.

Another change is consumer shopping trends.

Almost like a hangover from the recession, consumers are still shopping little and often. In fact when Henderson’s announced a record 3.6 per cent rise in turnover for 2013, sales and marketing director Paddy Doody discussed the rise of a “48-hour shop” where consumers are buying just enough for that night and the following day.

It seems that the appetite for wandering around huge supermarkets has definitely waned in Northern Ireland and elsewhere in the UK.

However, this hasn’t put an end to the planning applications by the multiples for new stores in NI. Whilst the number is certainly down, controversial stores are currently being constructed (Tesco at the Outlet in Banbridge) and plans for an out of town complex in Newry, rumoured to have Asda as an anchor tenant, was passed only last month by DOE.

In light of all of these changes, the retail sector in NI is doing what it always does; changing and adapting to the market and the symbol groups are at the forefront of this sector.

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