Morrisons to Test New C-Store Concept in Scotland

The U.K. supermarket chain recently sold its 140 convenience stores in September.

October 28, 2015

BANFFSHIRE, Scotland – While the U.K.-based Morrisons sold off its 140 convenience stores last month to retailer Mike Green for £25 million, the grocery store chain has announced plans to test a convenience store concept in Scotland, the Scottish Daily Record reports. The new convenience food shop will be inside five gasoline stations owned by Motor Fuel Group, which is owned by Scottish oil tycoon Alasdair Locke.

Motor Fuel Group has acquired more than 370 petrol stations after inking an affiliation with Patron Capital Partners, a private equity firm. In June, the group was bought by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, another private equity firm, for £500 million.

Morrisons lost £30 million when it sold its M Local stores, and could register another £20 million related to on-site leases, if Greene doesn’t reverse the downward slide of the convenience stores. In September, CEO David Potts said that his company remains “open to other opportunities in convenience in the future.” And by future, he meant October, given the announcement of the pilot program. The five new stores will be under the Morrisons brand and will be operating by the end of 2015.

“As we said at our recent interim results, we want to consider new opportunities to serve customers better in the convenience market where the capital commitment is low and the Morrisons resourcing is light-touch,” said Potts. “This pilot in Motor Fuel Group filling stations will allow us to trial one opportunity in this growing channel.”

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