Sainsbury’s launches overhaul of ‘Local’ c-store estate

The review began over the weekend, with Sainsbury’s conducting a review of everything from the range in Local stores, to c-store layouts and spacing across its 800-plus strong estate, according to reporting from The Grocer.

Executives are looking at increasing the number of food-to-go products in some c-stores and increasing the number of available SKUs in some stores where demand is underserved.

The Grocer reported that Sainsbury’s began speaking to suppliers about the proposed changes earlier in October.

The c-store review will mimic work already underway across the retailer’s supermarket estate as part of its Next Level strategy, which boss Simon Roberts unveiled back in February.

Sainsbury’s has set itself a target of adding more than 300,000 sq ft of new, dedicated food space across its existing store estate.

At the time, Sainsbury’s said the new strategy would help it continue to gain grocery market share “by bringing more of Sainsbury’s food range to more customers, becoming the first choice for food for more people, and continuing to attract more and bigger basket primary shoppers.”