British supermarket group Safeway has promised to create 2,000 new jobs and open 19 stores in Northern Ireland over the next 18 months. Four new stores will be built in addition to the 15 Wellworth shops it acquired in a £65 million joint venture deal with the Fitzwilton group in June.
Meanwhile, store development teams are currently "very active on the ground" in the Republic, where greenfield sites were being selected. Safeway's first flagship store in Northern Ireland, formerly Wellworth's in Coleraine, Co Derry, was officially re-initiated yesterday. Company chairman Mr David Webster also outlined ambitious plants to move rapidly into the Republic.
"The Irish economy, both in the North and in the Republic, is growing at a faster rate than in Britain, so we obviously find that very attractive. Ireland is a very exciting place to be," he said.
"I would be very disappointed if we haven't got a good flow of new sites, new stores over the next two to three years," added Mr Webster, saying that he would like to open "more than ten" outlets in the Republic. "We would like as many as we can sensibly get," he said. At least four stores are being planned for Dublin. Safeway will be aiming for the middle-to-upper end of the market.
Safeway's move into the North will significantly increase competition in the grocery market, estimated to be worth £1.6 billion sterling a year. Two of Britain's other main multiples, Tesco and Sainsbury, are already in Northern Ireland and also planning expansion. TescoStewarts currently has a 30 per cent share, while SafewayWellworth accounts for 11 per cent of the market. Safeway is aiming to increase market share to 15 per cent by March 1999.
The company is committed to spending £50 million on the conversion of 15 Wellworth stores, where it estimates 1,000 new jobs will be created. Four new stores, where a further 1,000 jobs are promised, will be built in Bangor, Downpatrick, Cookstown and Dungannon.
Mr Webster said Safeway was committed to investing in both the North's economy and its people, and wanted to source products there for stores all over the UK. "Some 100 trucks will come every week from Glasgow, our policy is to ensure that they go back full. It is good economics that they go back full," he said.
The company is aiming to double its business with local suppliers to £200 million by March 1999. Of Wellworth's £100 million a year spend in Northern Ireland, some £30 million is believed to have gone to agencies handling products from Britain. Safeway met 200 suppliers after the joint venture was announced, and Mr Webster said the greater number of these would be retained. Up to 200 of Safeway's own-label products are also being sourced in the North. Safeway aims to lure shoppers from the other multiples with its focus on family shopping. Special discounts will be given to families with children under one year old, creche facilities are to be provided and even special car-parking spaces are allocated for parents with children. Other services include a petrol station and a dry-cleaning service.
A hi-tech "shop-and-go" self-scanning system is also designed to help parents, as it eliminates queues at checkouts. It also encourages use of the Safeway loyalty card. With this system, already in use in stores in Britain, the shopper scans each item with a handheld device as they take it from the shelf. When they come to pay, there is no need to unload the trolley. Spot checks are carried out, but Safeway managers say the system works well.
