A symbol group is a form of franchise of convenience shops, found primarily in the United Kingdom and Ireland. They do not own or operate shops, but act as suppliers to independent 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. Examples of such franchises are Spar, Londis, Nisa Local and Centra.
Symbol groups include:
Booker Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tesco.
In 2014, the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) reported that the symbol group market is worth £15.5bn, with a 42% share of the UK convenience market through 17,080 shops. [5]
In the 2010s there was significant consolidation in the sector, as Tesco purchased Booker and the Co-operative Group purchased Nisa.
A convenience store, bodega, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as tea, coffee, groceries, fruits, vegetables, snacks, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery tickets, over-the-counter drugs, toiletries, newspapers and magazines. In some jurisdictions, convenience stores are licensed to sell alcoholic drinks, although many jurisdictions limit such beverages to those with relatively low alcohol content, like beer and wine. The 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. Some also sell tickets or recharge smart cards, e.g. OPUS cards in Montreal or include a small deli. 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.
SuperValu is a supermarket chain that operates throughout the island of Ireland. SuperValu is operated as a symbol group; each supermarket is independently owned, with individual owners using the SuperValu format and selling the chain's own brand products. SuperValu outlets tend to be larger than the convenience shop formats used by many other symbol group retailers such as Centra, Gala and Spar, and the larger SuperValu units are on a par with full-service supermarkets. Their main competitors are Dunnes Stores and Tesco.
SPAR, originally DESPAR, styled as DE SPAR, is a Dutch multinational franchise that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well, and as of 2021 consists of 13,623 stores in 48 countries.
Budgens Stores Limited, trading as Budgens, is a chain of grocery stores in the United Kingdom. The business was founded in 1872 by John Budgen, who opened the first shop in Maidenhead, Berkshire and was incorporated as a private limited company on 28 May 1962. The company is a subsidiary and retail fascia of Booker Group, part of Tesco plc.
Kwik Save is a British convenience store chain. Prior to 2007, it was also a discount supermarket chain that had shops across the United Kingdom. It went into administration in July 2007, but was brought back in April 2012. Its shops were small to medium-sized high street supermarkets, mainly located in areas with below average incomes.
Centra is a convenience shop chain that operates throughout Ireland. The chain operates as a symbol group owned by Musgrave Group, the food wholesaler, meaning the individual shops are all owned by individual franchisees.
Costcutter is a chain of convenience shops, supermarkets and off-licences that operates in Ireland, Great Britain and Poland. The chain operates primarily as a symbol group and is owned by Barry Group in the Republic of Ireland and by Bestway in the United Kingdom.
In the Republic of Ireland, the retail sector provides one of the largest sources of employment in the economy, representing over 12% of the workforce. As of 2017, approximately 40,000 wholesale and retail businesses employed almost 280,000 people in Ireland, with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment reporting that 90% of these businesses were Irish-owned.
Booker Group Limited is a British wholesale distributor, and subsidiary of Tesco.
Nisa Retail Limited is a brand and groceries wholesaler operating in the United Kingdom. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Co-operative Group Limited. It was formerly a mutual organisation owned by its members and operating "...like a co-operative, using the collective buying power of the large group of members to negotiate deals with suppliers".
Premier is a symbol group in the United Kingdom established in 1994, with over 3,000 stores nationwide. Tesco took ownership of the brand in 2018 after its purchase of Booker Group.
Mace is a convenience shop symbol group operating as three separate entities with different ownerships in Great Britain, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The shops are independently owned and join the groups, paying a fee for marketing and branding support and purchasing their stock from the brand owners.
In the United Kingdom, it is common practice for retailers to have their own value brand in an effort to compete on price. These brands have become more popular in the UK with shoppers since the Great Recession caused food prices to rise.
Londis is a symbol group in the United Kingdom with over 2,000 stores nationwide. Tesco owns the brand, following its 2018 purchase of Booker Group.
Londis is a chain of convenience shop franchises operating in Ireland. The stores form a symbol group and are all owned on a franchise basis.
My Local was a chain of 130 convenience shops in the United Kingdom.
Bestway Wholesale Holdings Limited is the second largest food wholesaler in the United Kingdom. It trades from 62 warehouses and is a supply partner to over 130,000 independent retailers and 40,000 catering and foodservice operators. Bestway Wholesale also operates the Best-one, Costcutter, Bargain Booze and Wine Rack symbol groups, which in total have around 4,000 members between them throughout the country as of January 2022. Over 3,500 independents have chosen their depot-run promotional club, Xtra Local, as their retail club of choice. Bestway Wholesale is a wholly owned subsidiary of the British investment company Bestway Group.
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