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In a time when retail chains throughout all the different sectors are struggling comes the recently reported news that discount grocery retailer Heron Foods is expanding.
Having started out in Hull in 1972, Heron Foods has grown to a chain of over 250 stores operating primarily in the North of England. 53 of these stores were added to the portfolio when Heron Foods acquired the Cooltrader chain from Iceland.
Heron Foods has had a pretty successful history, and its financial statistics aren’t in bad shape either. In 2014 Heron Foods was ranked 12th by turnover in The Grocer magazine’s survey of the top 50 independent grocery retailers based on turnover in the year to 31st March 2014.
All of this combined made the family-owned Heron Foods an ideal acquisition target, so it should have come as no surprise when, in August 2017, B&M Bargains splashed out £152m to buy the chain. At the time of acquisition, B&M said the combination of the two retailers could deliver a “value proposition” in an expanding sector of the grocery market and outlined plans for expansion. Indeed, the combination of the two large value players makes them a force to be reckoned with.
Fast-forward nine months to a grocery market where the biggest players are downsizing their store portfolios and colossal mergers are being discussed, the value sector is thriving as evidenced by the continued growth of Aldi and Lidl. And it is here where Heron Foods stands to gain, with the plan to expand into the South of the UK with the opening of 30 new stores in 2018, and what we are sure will be many more.
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