A convenience store, convenience shop, or corner store is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, tobacco products, over-the-counter drugs, toiletries, newspapers, and magazines. In some jurisdictions, convenience stores are licensed to sell alcohol, typically beer and wine. Such stores may also offer money order and wire transfer services, along with the use of a fax machine or photocopier for a small per-copy cost. They differ from general stores and village shops in that they are not in a rural location and are used as a convenient supplement to larger stores.
The West Country is a loosely defined area of south-western England. The term usually encompasses the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, and often the counties of Bristol, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, in the South West region. The region is host to distinctive regional dialects and accents. Some definitions also include Herefordshire.
Somerfield was a chain of small to medium-sized supermarkets operating in the United Kingdom. The company also previously owned the Kwik Save chain of discount food stores. The company was taken over by the Co-operative Group on 2 March 2009 in a £1.57 billion deal, creating the UK's fifth-largest food retailer. The Somerfield name was replaced by the Co-operative brand in a rolling programme of store conversions ending in summer 2011.
A symbol group is a mainly British term for a form of franchise in the retail sector. They do not own or operate shops, but act as suppliers to independent convenience shops which then trade under a common banner. Unlike other forms of franchise, they have expanded primarily by selling their services to existing shops, rather than by actively developing new outlets. Ireland also has a number of large convenience symbols groups owned by Musgrave Group and BWG Foods such as Spar, Centra, Londis, Daybreak, Mace and XL.
Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate, headquartered in Perth, Western Australia, with interests predominantly in Australian and New Zealand retail, chemicals, fertilisers, coal mining and industrial and safety products. With AU$65.98 billion in the 2016 financial year, it is the largest Australian company by revenue, overtaking Woolworths and BHP. Wesfarmers is the largest private employer in Australia, with approximately 220,000 employees.
The Scottish Midland Co-operative Society, trading as Scotmid Co-operative, is an independent retail consumers' co-operative that originated in the Central Belt, particularly Edinburgh and the Lothians. It was formed in 1981 by a merger of the Dalziell Society of Motherwell with the St. Cuthbert's Co-operative Society, which had been established in 1859. With over 5,000 staff, the chain now has nearly 200 supermarkets and five perfume shops in Scotland, nine Lakes & Dales food shops and over 140 Semichem health and beauty shops throughout Scotland, Northern Ireland and England
Co-operative Retail Services was the second-largest consumer co-operative society in the United Kingdom. In 2000, it was dissolved by its members, merging with the larger Co-operative Wholesale Society, to form the Co-operative Group (CWS) Ltd.
The United Kingdom is home to a widespread and diverse co-operative movement, with over 7,000 registered co-operatives which are owned by 17 million individual members and which contribute £34bn a year to the British economy. Modern co-operation started with the Rochdale Pioneers' shop in the northern English town of Rochdale in 1844, though the history of co-operation in the UK can be traced back to before 1800. The British co-operative movement is most commonly associated with The Co-operative brand which has been adopted by several large consumers' co-operative societies; however, there are many thousands of registered co-operative businesses operating in the UK. Alongside these consumers' co-operatives, there exist many prominent agricultural co-operatives (621), co-operative housing providers (619), health and social care cooperatives (111), cooperative schools (834), retail co-operatives, co-operatively run community energy projects, football supporters' trusts, credit unions and worker-owned businesses.
Southern Co-op is a regional consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom. The principal activities of the Society are food retailing and funerals. It operates 200 convenience stores and 50 funeral homes, covering the southern English counties of Berkshire, Bristol, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Somerset, Surrey, Sussex and Wiltshire. The society is owned by over 160,000 members who share in the business's profits and who democratically control its operations. It is a registered Industrial and Provident Society, a member of Co-operatives UK, the Co-operative Retail Trading Group and a corporate member of The Co-operative Group.
First South West is a bus company operating services in the English counties of Somerset and Cornwall. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup.
Local World Holdings Ltd. is a large regional newspaper publisher in the UK that publishes around 100 print titles and more than 70 websites. It was formed in 2012 by David Montgomery, a former chief executive of Trinity Mirror, to buy the Daily Mail and General Trust's Northcliffe Media business, and the Yattendon Group's Iliffe newspaper group.
The Clydebank Co-operative Society Limited is the smallest consumers' co-operative in Scotland, based in the town of Clydebank near Glasgow. Along with Scotmid and The Co-operative Group, it is one of three co-operative retailers in Scotland, and the only one not merged into a regional or national society.
Western National was a bus company operating in South West England from 1929 until the 1990s.
Radstock Co-operative Society is a small regional consumer co-operative, which was established in Radstock, Somerset in 1868 and today operates nineteen food stores and across Somerset alongside a 1000 acre farm. It is owned and democratically controlled by its customer members, who numbered approximately 7000 in 2014. The society grew from a turnover of £15 million in 2006 to over £35m by 2016, doubling the number of stores over the period. The business has held the Fair Tax Mark since 2016.
Lothian, Borders & Angus Co-operative Society Limited , founded in 1839 in the Scottish Borders, was the oldest independent consumer co-operative in Scotland until it merged with The Co-operative Group in December 2008. It operated over 50 food stores in the south and east, as well as some other retail businesses, and funeral services. At the time of the merger, Lothian Co-op was owned by 65,000 consumer members on a one member one vote basis.
The South West Rugby League (SWRL) also known as the South West Men's League is a rugby league competition for teams in the South West of England. It was formerly part of the Rugby League Conference.
My Local was a chain of 130 convenience shops in the United Kingdom.
