Bestway set to expand hybrid Bargain Booze / Costcutter store roll-out

UK independent food and drink wholesaler, Bestway Wholesale, has said it will develop more hybrid stores, as it opened its second?dual-branded Costcutter and Bargain Booze store concept in the north of England.?

Bestway acquired Costcutter in December 2020, and announced that it would open its first dual-branded store in October 2021, with the Bargain Booze franchise store-within-a-store” concept opening in April this year.

“By having a Bargain Booze within the Costcutter store, the store now has an exciting and compelling off license offer to complement the market leading grocery proposition that Costcutter is renowned for within the sector,” the company said.

Jamie Davison, Head of New Business and Store Development at Bestway Retail, said of the new dual branded Costcutter and Bargain Booze store was?an exciting milestone for the business, adding that there were further plans for developing more hybrid stores, which the company recognised as “a fantastic proposition for both retailers and consumers alike”.

The group spent more than ￡100,000 on the refit of the dual-branded Whiston store near Prescot, which it hopes will attract new customers and encourage different shopping missions throughout the day.

Store manager Tracy McConnell said that it had taken a huge amount of hard work to get to this point.

“It was wonderful to celebrate the opening on Saturday with all of our loyal customers who are clearly enormously excited by the new offer, and hopefully we will be attracting some new customers too,” she said.

The company has also added a range of Co-Op own own label products – the convenience store has been an exclusive supplier to Costcutter Supermarkets Group since May 2018.

Bestway Wholesale had already announced?two other new store formats?with the launch of BB, an offshoot of Bargain Booze and Tippl, an offshoot of Wine Rack but with a broader offer of beers, wines and spirits and food options, in October 2020. These aimed to extend the existing fascia’s reach of a more affluent demographic, it said.

Bestway Wholesale bought the?Bargain Booze, Wine Rack and Central Convenience store brands from Conviviality Retail?in April 2018 for ￡7.25m (although the Bargain Booze symbol group, Wine Rack and Select One were later transferred to?Bestway Retail Limited in a restructure of the business). In April, Bestway Retail reported that it had continued to stabilise the business following the restructure,, cutting operating losses from ￡8 million in 2020 to ￡2.25million in 2021.