Landmark Wholesale is on target to complete the conversion of 2,500 stores, mainly trading as Lifestyle Express outlets, to its Hot House retailing concept by April next year.
There are currently 1,676 Lifestyle Express stores and Landmark Wholesale is following up leads with a further 300 retailers.
There are also a small number of unaffiliated retailers following the Hot House planograms, merchandising advice and promotional activities.
Retail controller Raj Krishan said: “Our Lifestyle Express symbol group is helping to drive the growth of the independent convenience sector as a whole.”
The symbol group sector grew by about 600 stores last year, and Krishnan said 376 of these were Lifestyle Express outlets.
Sales within Lifestyle Express and the Hot House programme were up 16% in 2008. In the past six months, the group has been running a major marketing campaign, urging shoppers to “Shop Often, Shop Local, Spend Less”.
The Select & Save symbol group saw sales grow by 9% in 2008, with stores that have been re-fitted increasing sales on average by £5,000 a week.
The main worry, said Hayley Osborne, trade and marketing manager, was the price increases pushed through from suppliers in all categories over the last 12 months.
“Here at Select & Save, we offer our members a very strong promotional package enabling them to be price competitive, not only competing with other convenience stores but also with the major multiples,” she said.
Mike Dennis
The Original Story appears in Independent Retail News
