With the sale of its eight filling stations, this means the supermarket retailer is to exit the fuel market in Northern Ireland.

It is understood the forecourts will be transferred on a site-by-site basis and is expected to take place over the next six to 12 months.

The affected sites are located in Bangor, Ballymena, Coleraine, West Belfast, Forestside, Sprucefield, Dungannon and Holywood Exchange.

The retailer said that there would be no redundancies as a result of the deal, with Sainsbury’s staff being transferred to roles at nearby stores.

Forecourt business, Go is operated by Cookstown-based LCC Group. It is understood it plans to invest in modernising the eight sites and will convert them into pay-at-pump, self-service stations.

Sainsbury’s director of petrol and kiosk, Caroline Holroyde said the deal represented a “major opportunity to upgrade and modernise” the respective sites and said they would continue to operate as usual while the transfer was prepared.

“We believe this deal represents the best possible outcome for our petrol station estate in Northern Ireland,” added Caroline Holroyde.

“We’re looking forward to realising the benefits it represents, while at the same time bringing more of the best Sainsbury’s has to offer to Northern Ireland as we invest in opening two exciting new supermarkets here.”

The post Sainsbury’s sells eight filling stations to fuel operator Go first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

Representing community retailing at its finest, The Wall Group, founded by Gavan and his wife, Helen, has established itself as a top-of-the-range retail group providing a fresh, modern retail experience.

The reopening of their Springfield Road store – their eighth site – follows on from their purchase of the store in September 2025 and subsequent investment of £1 million on an internal refit. A further £2 million will follow on redeveloping the forecourt and external amenity in the coming months.

The EUROSPAR store stands at almost 6000 sq ft and has been through a complete overhaul, with a new ceiling with linear lighting, new flooring, new shelving and new refrigeration all incorporated. As Gavan Wall told NR, the creation of a modern store is an important factor for today’s consumers.

“We purchased it in September 2025, it was a good quality site but I believed it was a sleeping giant and that it had big potential,” said Gavan.

“We introduced our own Wall’s Foodhall & Butchery, it is our own in-house brand. We have a brand-new deli with a new Subway counter and we moved the tills to the other side of the shop to create better flow.

“I believe we also have the widest first aisle in the country, with lower-level table displays and a wider gangway. This transforms the customer experience! We have totally changed everything inside entirely.”

The site also has a forecourt, which Gavan explained is a “small, cramped site” but he is passionate about redeveloping this and creating an exciting forecourt facility – phase two of the redevelopment plan.

“I had a dilemma about which to do first, as we wanted to do both the shop and the forecourt, however with planning permission required for the forecourt, I ultimately completed the internal refurb first and went through the planning process for the forecourt at the same time,” said Gavan.

“When you spend £1 million these days when margins are so tight, if you do not get the uplift, you are in trouble. I had to be really on top of the planning permission for the external work, but it’s looking like things are moving in the right direction.”

The refurbished store boasts everyday essentials, own-brand fresh ranges, an increased selection of SPAR Bakery and local suppliers as well as increased offerings of both dairy and fresh produce. There store also operates an off licence, a Barista Bar coffee machine and an internal and external ATM.

A key differential for the store is its increased opening hours, now operating on a 24-hour basis, with an open-door policy.

“This does bring its risks, but we have also been doing this at our Landscape Filling Station site,” said Gavan.

“We get night-time deliveries and have full-time staff on with headsets and someone on the floor, so there is nobody on their own. We are near the Royal Victoria Hospital and have noticed a lot of the night-shift workers coming in and they have been very pleased they are able to come into the shop and get what they need during the night.”

Gavan added they have also noted a lot of customers come to purchase their fuel at night, when the forecourt is quieter.

“We have tried to keep the fuel as competitive as we can price-wise and currently have pre-pay pumps. Our new forecourt will make such a difference for us, people have no idea the impact it will have. I have seen what we can do when we transform something like this. It’s really exciting for me and the whole team,” added Gavan.

Having purchased his first store – Landscape Filling Station on the Crumlin Road – back in 2008, Gavan has a wealth of experience in what his customers want and has a keen foresight on new and exciting initiatives he aims to introduce across his businesses. Committed to benefiting areas with a wide range of offerings and services, he has seen how a shop can transform places.

READ THE FULL FEATURE ON THE WALL GROUP’S SPRINGFIELD ROAD STORE IN THE OCTOBER ISSUE OF NEIGHBOURHOOD RETAILER HERE

The post The Wall Group – catalysts for change first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

The genesis of Kitchen Bakes stems back to the mid-1970s when Harold and Gladys McCullough, both bakers by trade, owned a home bakery shop in Portadown.

With a passion for baking and making bakery products, the couple soon became a trusted business in the local area. And while they had to close the business due to redevelopment in the area, they maintained the desire to bake and were soon looking for a new location to reopen their business.

In 1986, they saw an opportunity to make frozen apple tarts and sausage rolls with the aim of selling them in the shop for people to take home and bake in their own homes, and Kitchen Bakes was born.

Renting out a small unit in Lurgan, they soon employed an apprentice to help them out, with Mark Porter joining the company the following year. As Dean told NR, Mark is their longest-serving employee, having been with the company for 39 years and is now production supervisor.

“Through time the business grew and people were taking their bakes home to bake them and over time my parents went onto acquire our current premises in Mahon Industrial Estate,” said Dean.

“As the business grew and with the advent of programmes such as Great British Bake Off and hot food and deli counters in shops, the business developed further and we were able to supply sausage rolls in catering packs.

“We started to develop a range of fresh and ambient products, so we now have two arms to the business: the frozen unbaked products and the fresh traybakes and ambient products.”

Growth and diversification are the name of the game, and as his parents approached retirement age, they asked Dean if he was interested in joining the business. He now marks his own anniversary of 30 years with the company and has enjoyed seeing it grow and develop over that time.

“Thankfully from then, we have been able to continue to grow. We have seen year-on-year growth as far as sales and our customer base goes,” said Dean.

“We now supply about three quarters of Northern Ireland’s retail industry, independent convenience sector shops.

“While we still of course have the same range of products with our frozen sausage rolls and tarts and the fresh products, over the last 10 years, we have also moved into the food service industry and supply traybakes into that, and we now have an account in the south of Ireland.”

While the original staff were Harold and Gladys and then Mark, the company now employs 26 people across the business, from production to delivery, with four delivery vans servicing over 120 accounts on a weekly basis, and three admin staff. Dean said it was a credit to his parents that the company continues to be a success.

“I put it down to the quality and consistency of our products. We hope and believe that our customers know that when they buy our products, they know it will be something good,” said Dean.

“It has always been our philosophy to get the product in as good a condition as possible, from production to purchase. We always want them to buy our products again. As owners and staff, this is something that we would buy ourselves and we hope to achieve that through the quality of our products.”

Across the last 40 years there have been a host of changes and developments within the sector, with Dean bearing witness to many in his tenure, but he believes that consistency and recognising a work-life balance are important in running a business.

“Thankfully for us, staffing has not been an issue. We have managed to keep a number of staff here for a long time, our general manager has been here for 30 years and others have been here for 20 years and more,” he said.

“We have also had a philosophy that we are family-owned and believe that people have to have time with their families. We have a five-day working week and family time at the weekend, and this makes it easier and more attractive to people.

“Our staff finish at 12pm on a Friday. I have gone through it with my own kids in the business and now two of my sons work in the business, so those family values are something we have always believed in and try to protect.

READ THE FULL FEATURE ON KITCHEN BAKES IN THE OCTOBER ISSUE OF NEIGHBOURHOOD RETAILER HERE

The post Kitchen Bakes – baking for generations first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

With grocery inflation rising to 12.86%, shoppers are cutting back. Visits to stores over the latest period were down 10.5% year on year and shoppers bought fewer items per trip, also down by 9.3% compared to last year.

Eimear Faughnan, Head of Retail for Ireland at Worldpanel by Numerator said shoppers made the most of deals where they could, spending £1.59 billion on promotions, with 28.9% of items sold on offer.

“As back-to-school routines took hold and summer drew to a close, shoppers spent an additional £5.6 million on sweet morning goods, coffee and carbonated soft drinks over the latest 12 weeks,” said Eimear.

“With Halloween and Christmas ranges now on the shelves, they’re clearly looking to treat themselves. Sales of wine rose by 30.4%, chocolate by 23.6% and savoury snacks by 11.2%.”

Branded products increased their share of spend this month to 57.2%, adding an additional £154 million to the take-home grocery market. However, own label sales fell by 2.7%, leaving its share at 41.1%.

Meanwhile, Tesco holds the number one market position, growing its share to 39.4%, up 6.9% from last year in value growth, which came from both new shoppers and bigger baskets, adding £114.6 million to its performance. Sainsbury’s follows with 17.2% share, up 4.2% year on year, with new shoppers adding £28.1 million.

Asda holds 14% value share this period, while Lidl increased its share to 9.9%, up 8.6%. An increase in shoppers and more items in baskets per trip contributed an uplift of £35.2 million to Lidl’s overall performance.

The post Wine and chocolate sales soar as shoppers gear up for Halloween and Christmas first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

With firms across Northern Ireland continuing to battle high energy, labour and transport costs, the focus of the event was on how business and government – at both a local and UK level – can work together to give Northern Ireland’s firms the breathing room they need to unlock investment, drive growth and boost job creation.

The CBI Annual Breakfast is a key date in the NI business calendar. The event, which took place in the Great Hall at the Galgorm Resort and Spa, was supported by strategic partner NIE Networks; corporate partners Henderson Group and Pilgrims Europe; and supporting partner BT Group.

Guest speakers included Sarah Owen MP, Northern Ireland Office Minister; James Pomeroy, Global Economist at HSBC UK; Sir David Sterling, Independent non-executive Chair at NIE Networks; and Brian Donaldson, Chief Executive of the Maxol Group and current CBI Northern Ireland Chair.

Brian Donaldson, Chair, CBI Northern Ireland, said: “Companies across Northern Ireland are dealing with higher energy costs, higher transport costs and cautious customers spending less.

“How long these pressures will last is hard to say, and that means hard choices are having to be made. But even in these conditions, businesses continue to show remarkable determination and resourcefulness – adapting, finding opportunities and keeping the Northern Ireland economy moving forward.

“That’s why it was great to see so many business leaders ‘in the room’ together at our breakfast event. Their voice has never been so important at a pivotal time for the local, All-island and UK economy which support our local businesses and facilitate further investment. I would like to thank all those who attended and NIE Networks, Henderson Group, Pilgrims Europe and BT Group for their generous sponsorship.”

Angela McGowan, Director, CBI Northern Ireland added: “After the recent change of UK Prime Minister and with much focus on the upcoming Budget, we are determined to ensure that business and government work hand-in-glove to unlock investment, boost job creation, and deliver prosperity that can be felt in communities across Northern Ireland.

“With firms facing a real range of challenges, from high operating costs to increased global uncertainty, it was great to bring experts together to discuss how Northern Ireland can best navigate these choppy waters, while staying laser focused on delivering economic growth.

“With living and business costs so inextricably linked, we must do everything in our power to help local firms invest, thrive and grow. Northern Ireland’s success requires a fit and firing private sector. While government can put up the supportive scaffolding, its ultimately business alone that delivers growth, creates jobs and puts pounds in people’s pockets.”

Sir David Sterling, Independent Non-Executive Chair, NIE Networks said: “We were delighted to once again sponsor the CBI Breakfast which is a flagship event in the business calendar helping to strengthen connections and promote economic growth.

“Too often economic growth, energy, affordability, security of supply and sustainability are discussed as separate challenges. In reality, they are interconnected and require a co-ordinated, long-term approach across government, regulators, utilities and industry.

“The greatest opportunity lies in the development of a shared delivery plan that aligns government, utilities and industry around the outcomes that matter most: lower energy costs, greater energy security, sustainable growth and long-term economic prosperity.

“By aligning priorities and optimising investment, we can reduce exposure to volatile international energy markets, strengthen energy security, support economic growth and deliver better long-term value for customers.

“Our ambition, at NIE Networks, is to create an energy system that is affordable, secure and sustainable, while supporting the long-term prosperity and competitiveness of Northern Ireland and we look forward to continuing to work with the CBI and their members on that journey.”

The post Opportunity is out there but local firms need ‘breathing space’ to be engine of growth first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.