Sainsbury's Freezer Centres

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Sainsbury's Freezer Centres was a former frozen food chain, operated by the then-largest UK supermarket chain (now the second largest supermarket chain) Sainsbury's.

Sainsbury's is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 16.9% share of the supermarket sector. Founded in 1869, by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company became the largest retailer of groceries in 1922, was an early adopter of self-service retailing in the United Kingdom, and had its heyday during the 1980s. In 1995, Tesco overtook Sainsbury's to become the market leader, and Asda became the second largest in 2003, demoting Sainsbury's to third place for most of the subsequent period until January 2014, when Sainsbury's regained second place.

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The company decided to open the shops in response to competition from specialist frozen food chains, such as Bejam. It also allowed Sainsbury's to make use of its valuable freehold counter service stores (that were too small for conversion to self-service).

Bejam was a British frozen food retailer founded by John Apthorp in 1968, based in Stanmore. The concept of selling only frozen foods was a novel idea at the time, and Bejam grew out of Apthorp's existing family business of E. A. D. Apthorp, potato merchants who delivered in and around Edgware and Stanmore. Bejam also sold electrical appliances with the Bejam brand name, including freezers, refrigerators, microwave ovens and dishwashers.

The first shop opened at Southbourne near Bournemouth in 1974. It was not an immediate success as many of the elderly residents living in the area did not own a freezer. Only 11% of households at that time owned freezers. Nine other branches that followed suit in that year, however, had greater success. They sold about 3,000 lines, many with deep discounts.

Southbourne, Dorset suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset

Southbourne is a suburb of Bournemouth in the English county of Dorset. It is the most easterly part of the Borough of Bournemouth, situated between Boscombe and Christchurch. The area was previously known as Stourfield. Strictly, Southbourne refers to the area near to the coast; areas further inland are West Southbourne, Tuckton and Wick.

Bournemouth Place in England

Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town on the south coast of England, east of the 96 miles (155 km) long Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest in Dorset. With Poole to the west and Christchurch in the east, Bournemouth is part of the South East Dorset conurbation, which has a population of 465,000.

In 1975, new build stores or refurbished ones had frozen food departments built into them. Chippenham was the first branch to have this integrated.

Chippenham town in Wiltshire, England

Chippenham is a large historic market town in northwest Wiltshire, England. It lies 20 miles (32 km) east of Bristol, 86 miles (138 km) west of London and 4 miles (6 km) west of The Cotswolds AONB. The town was established on a crossing of the River Avon and some form of settlement is believed to have existed there since before Roman times. It was a royal vill, and probably a royal hunting lodge, under Alfred the Great. The town continued to grow when the Great Western Railway arrived in 1841; it is now a major commuter town.

By 1980, there were 21 freezer centres, and by 1982, 49% of households owned a freezer.

Sainsbury's sold Sainsbury's Freezer Centres to Bejam in 1986. In 1989, Bejam became part of the Iceland chain.

Iceland Foods Ltd is a British supermarket chain based in Wales, with emphasis on the sale of frozen foods, including prepared meals and vegetables. They also sell non-frozen grocery items such as produce, meat, dairy, and dry goods. The company has an approximate 2.2% share of the UK food market.

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