The investment in convenience stores comes as the retailer is continuing to call on the government to deliver business-rates reform at the November 26 Budget “to secure the future of small shops and community retail”.
Among the new stores opening this week include the retailer’s first permanent store at the new Brent Cross Town development in London, and a new franchise store opening in Frampton Cotterell in Bristol.
There will also be reopenings of stores in Somerset and Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.
These openings come a week after the c-store specialist celebrated new openings in Balenvon, Oxenhope in Yorkshire and Penkhull in Staffordshire last week.
It is part of the retailer’s wider push to open more than 200 new and refitted stores in 2024/2025, with plans to open 50 stores alone between November and December this year in time for Christmas.
The Co-op said this long-term investment in its convenience store estate depends on government “delivering the fair business-rates reform that has long been promised – giving thousands of small and independent retailers the certainty they need to plan, invest and protect local jobs”.
Co-op operations director Kate McCrae said: “We are focussed on creating local stores which are more than just a shop – they are a hub locally that contribute to local life and meet the needs of communities, conveniently.
“We’re investing in stores and communities right across the UK because we believe in the future of the high street – creating local jobs and backing British farmers and suppliers. However, sustained growth needs certainty, and the government now has an opportunity at this week’s Budget to deliver the fair business rates reform needed to give retailers the stability to invest and grow.”
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