Sainsbury’s has acquired 10 leasehold stores from HHGL Limited, trading as Homebase, which will be transformed into supermarkets – with the first sites opening Summer 2025.
The conversion of these sites into supermarkets is expected to create approximately 1,000 new roles. Sainsbury’s stressed it will interview any Homebase colleagues who are at risk of redundancy as a result of this transaction.
Additionally, the transformation plans will add a total of 235,000 square feet to Sainsbury’s supermarket trading space.
It comes as the big four supermarket puts a real focus on its food offering, part of its Next Level plan.
Simon Roberts, chief executive officer, J Sainsbury plc, said: “We have the best combination of value and quality in the market and that’s winning us customers from all our key competitors and driving consistent growth in volume market share. We want to build on this momentum which is why we are growing our supermarket footprint.
“Our ambition is to be customers’ first choice for food and these new stores will showcase some of the best that Sainsbury’s supermarkets have to offer to even more communities around the country.”
Sainsbury’s was recently profiled as part of the first RetailX UK 360° report. The two-page extended profile looked at how Sainsbury’s and its sister brand Argos have worked closely together over eight years to make customers’ lives easier, enabling them to pick up both groceries and a wide range of general merchandise products in one supermarket trip.
Furthermore, through its Nectar360 loyalty business, the group is bringing together Sainsbury’s and Argos in a retail media strategy that already works with more than 870 direct clients and through partnerships with agency groups. Sainsbury’s group says that Your Nectar personalised prices are used by more than a million customers each week, while Nectar360 is forecast to add £100mn to Sainsbury’s group profits over the three years to March 2027.
Learn more about Nectar360 in the RetailX Retail Media 2024 report. Sainsbury’s operates its retail media network under the name Nectar360, since it in part leverages the retailers long-established Nectar scheme – the UK’s largest loyalty programme.
The wider report investigates how this ‘new’ market has come into being, what it means for the stakeholders across retail, brands, suppliers, agencies, media companies and tech vendors.
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