To be honest, I don’t really remember much about Kwik Save. I remember the logo was red and white, and once seeing a line of ants marching up and down the sweet shelves (no joke)…but other than that, all I know is what I was told, and the reputation it had amongst my age group was not good, to say the least!
To put it into context, when I was a teen, Aldi had just opened the first massive shed of cheap German greatness in our town; Asda was a little less discount and I didn’t know anyone who bought food from Marks and Spencer! Needless to say, we were, and still are, a very working class community…but not quite as working class as poor old Kwik Save!
If you shopped a Kwik Save, you didn’t let anyone know it. The speed at which you carried that KS shopping from the car to your house was almost faster than that of light, and own branded products were quickly decanted into indistinguishable containers, the packaging to be discarded….
Ok, so that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea!
I suspect this dismal reputation, alongside the aforementioned inclusion of ants in some sweet products, was a large aid to the chains eventual demise…which we all thought was final…until now.
It appears the red and white behemoth has made a return!
Where, exactly, do you think a resurrected Kwik Save could survive? The Internet, maybe? The Internet does has everything, but no, its not there. Or London, cos, you know, London is the place to be? Nope, guess again. Perhaps a place across the seas…where the tired and weary can go to feel young and beautiful once again…somewhere like…the Costa Del Sol? Indeed, good old ‘Save has been resurrected in Torremuelle, on the coast of Benalmádena, Spain.
Peter O'Toole, a former director at Irish grocer Musgrave, bought the rights to the name from the administrator and opened a 5,000 sq ft store in 2008. An expansion plan is apparently on the cards, and O’Toole says he wants to open at least 10 stores in the next 18 months through franchising.
Apparently it’s proving popular with expats, who can get the British produce they miss…not unexpected, as the Costas newest residents have a few things in common; neither are willing to grow old gracefully and both favour a fetching combination of red and white!