Convenience Store Franchise Opportunities

As shopping habits change, the UK is becoming a nation of ‘top-up’ shoppers, ditching the big weekly shop for a series of smaller shops during the week. According to research carried out by Co-op, almost half of consumers don’t carry out a big weekly shop. On average, people buy seven items on a trip to a convenience store (The Drum via Opinium Retail Tracker) and, for 20 percent of Brits, these trips happen every single day (Statista).

While supermarkets battle discount stores for customers, convenience stores are reaping the rewards of a changing shopping culture. Convenience stores in petrol stations, service stations and on the high street give consumers access to a wide range of products, from food and beverages to magazines, cleaning products and flowers. Although prices can be a little higher than those in supermarkets, many people are prepared to pay the small mark-up in order to benefit from the convenience of a small, local store they can nip into on their way home.

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This means that opening a convenience store is a fantastic option for prospective business owners and franchisees. As the market widens and increasing numbers of consumers shop at convenience stores, there will be ample opportunity for entrepreneurs or existing business owners to develop their own successful business in years to come.

Convenience Store Franchise Opportunities

Unsurprisingly, convenience stores are popular among franchisees. A convenience store franchise can offer its business partners a profitable model, effective strategies, brand awareness, a popular product range and ongoing support, which means that the business is already one step ahead of an independent start-up before it has even opened its doors to the public. Therefore, unless you are desperate to develop your own product range and have complete control over your business, a convenience store franchise could be the perfect opportunity for you, enabling you to launch a financially stable business that is part of a much larger network of recognisable stores.

Convenience Store Franchise List

At this point, you’re probably wondering what convenience store franchises are out there. Let’s take a look at some of the best ones.

One Stop

You have probably heard of One Stop, but did you know that it is a subsidiary of Tesco? That means that if you become a franchisee, you will have the backing of not only One Stop, but the supermarket giant, Tesco, too. 160 out of the 770 One Stop stores currently in operation across England, Wales and Scotland are owned by franchisees, and the company is on the lookout for more.

However, One Stop does things slightly differently to a lot of retail franchises. Rather than giving entrepreneurs the tools to start their own One Stop store, it is searching for business owners that already manage a shop and are prepared to transform it into a One Stop. To do this, you’ll need to invest up to £50,000 and pay a £92 weekly membership fee, but One Stop will take care of ensuring that your shop reflects the brand by refreshing the decor where necessary. In terms of stock, 95 percent of your offering must be One Stop products, but you can buy the remaining five percent of products from local suppliers.

To find out whether you fit One Stop’s criteria and qualify for a free consultation, complete the franchising form on its website.

SPAR

SPAR offers ‘fresh food’, ‘fresh-looking stores’ and ‘fresh ideas’. In 1932, the business opened the doors to its one Dutch store, but today it operates more than 12,000 stores in 34 countries. This makes it the biggest food retail chain in the world. In the UK, more than 50,000 people are employed by SPAR, which sees a turnover of over £3 billion. SPAR offers a huge variety of products, with over 1,000 lines sold in its stores. At heart, though, this is a truly local business that cares about its customers. That’s why it is ‘run by locals, for locals’.

If you’re interested in becoming a SPAR franchisee, head to its website to get the ball rolling.

Costcutter

Like One Stop, Costcutter offers a slightly different take on the conventional franchise model. Instead of supporting franchisees as they open new, branded stores, it supplies independent store owners with Costcutter products so that they can sell them while continuing to run the business as they see fit. This is not to say that Costcutter eliminates a support programme, however. In fact, it offers guidance with procurement, marketing, retail and technology.

Costcutter was established in the UK in 1986 as a small, family-owned business. In 2011, it was bought by another family-run business, Bibby Line Group and today there are roughly 2,000 Costcutter shops spread across the UK, Ireland and Poland. Of course, this doesn’t take into account the additional stores stocking Costcutter products. If you own a convenience store and would like to enter into a business partnership with Costcutter, you will need to be prepared to invest in the brand. There are no exact figures regarding the level of investment required from franchisees, but information online suggests that it could cost between £70,000 and £200,000 to partner with Costcutter and benefit from its extensive range of products.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are a range of different opportunities to open convenience stores in the UK. However, if these don’t fulfil your requirements, there are also plenty of other franchises in the retail sector(/our-franchises/S2-retail-franchises). Browse the Point Franchise directory(/uk-franchise-directory) to see our exhaustive list of franchise opportunities and compare their investment costs. Once you’ve found the perfect one for you, you could be welcoming customers through your doors and turning over a profit in no time.