Iceland launches Swift convenience format as Thorntons closes all 61 stores

The frozen food specialist will open its first Swift location in a former Iceland shop in Benton, Newcastle, on Thursday.

The store will offer almost 3,000 products – double the range stocked in the former Iceland store – covering “the full spectrum of grocery”, including fresh, frozen, chilled, food-to-go, alcohol and tobacco.

The Swift proposition will focus primarily on breakfast, lunch and dinner meal solutions.

Iceland said the pilot store will have a “novel layout” that “breaks down the traditional barriers between frozen and chilled food”.

Iceland registered the Swift trademark last October, as revealed by Retail Week.

Sources at that time suggested the grocer was working on a rapid delivery service to rival the likes of Amazon, Ocado, Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

But Iceland’s plans were uncovered by Shopfloorinsights.co.uk, which posted details of its planning application for the trial store.

Iceland managing director Richard Walker then tweeted an image from the store, alongside the caption: “An exciting week ahead.”

Iceland’s head of space and format development Matt Downes said: “This is a really exciting trial of a completely new concept that we think will be ideally suited to this high-traffic location.

“We believe that the much wider range on offer, Swift’s commitment to faster and easier shopping, and the leveraging of group buying power to ensure great value will all make this a convenience store with outstanding customer appeal.”

Thorntons to close all 61 stores

Details of Iceland’s plans emerged just hours before Thorntons revealed it was closing all 61 of its remaining stores, putting 600 jobs at risk.

The chocolatier once operated a portfolio of 400 shops, but has slowly reduced its physical presence having failed to keep pace with competitors like Hotel Chocolat and Godiva in recent years. 

Italian confectionery giant Ferrero bought Thorntons in a £112m deal back in August 2015 and pledged to revive its fortunes, but the high street chocolate retailer suffered a £35m loss in the year to the end of August 2019.

The coronavirus pandemic has heaped further pressure on the business, forcing it to close its stores during the crucial Easter and Christmas trading periods last year. Non-essential shops are unable to reopen in England until April 12 – a date that also falls after this year’s Easter weekend.

Thorntons retail director Adam Goddard said: “The obstacles we have faced and will continue to face on the high street are too severe.

“Despite our best efforts we have taken the difficult decision to permanently close our retail store estate.”

Thorntons will continue selling its chocolates online and supplying ranges to third-party retailers, including major the grocers.