Once a major player in the supermarket world with it’s concentration on best selling named brands and no frills stores.
Summary
Kwik Save seemed to be in most major towns in the 1980’s, but their history goes much further back.
Founded as Value Foods by Welsh entrepreneur Albert Gubay on 11th May 1959 and based in Prestatyn. The company rented its first retail shop in Queen Street, Rhyl, in July 1959. Further traditional shops were opened in Chester and Wrexham.
Gubay’s business model worked on buying a limited range of lines on favourable (net 60 or 90 days) payment terms, distributing and selling them at or below cost before the payment fell due and using the interest on the resulting cash flow to fund the business.
To the customer this offered a set range of branded groceries at hugely discounted prices.
Value Foods opened their first ‘Kwik Save Discount’ branded store in Colwyn Bay. The Kwik Save brand store produced more sales than it’s parent Value Foods and by 1967 Kwik Save Discount had thirteen shops.
Changing all stores to the Kwik Save Discount brand name and renaming the company Kwik Save Discount Group Ltd the company floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1970.
There seemed no stopping the retailer with acquisitions from fellow discounter Shoprite in 1994. However following the acquisition from Shoprite Kwik Save began to realise it was becoming too focused on it’s acquisitions as opposed to it’s core business.
As a consequence of the realisation in 1996 Kwik Save closed 107 underperforming shops.
There was a merger with Somerfield in 1998. Things didn’t quite go according to plan. Rebranded as Somerfield, it was quickly realised that the look and feel of existing Kwik Save shops would not lend itself well to the Somerfield look. For this reason, the plan was abandoned and the best Kwik Save shops were converted back, based on location and market demand, receiving a full refurbishment.
In the meanwhile Somerfield’s own spin off ‘Food Giant’ discount supermarkets were rebranded as Kwik Save.
Where Did They Go?
It would appear that things began to go badly wrong for the retailer when in 2006 Somerfield Stores Ltd sold the Kwik Save brand and 171 shops to an investment vehicle.
Somerfield retained 179 shops, 177 were re-branded as Somerfield and a further 77 were sold off, including 19 to Danish owned Netto. Kwik Save was beginning to disappear from our high streets.
By May 2007 cracks were appearing in the retailer on 29th May 2007, 79 shops were closed immediately. A month later (June 2007) a further 22 shops suffered the same fate. With a third of stores closed further problems arose when at the end of June staff were told they couldn’t be paid.
With 56 shops remaining Kwik Save was placed into administration on 6th July 2007.
The remaining shops were sold to newly launched FreshXpress saving 600 jobs. Sadly that company went the same way in 2009.
in 2012 the Kwik Save brand was sold to Costcutter who are effectively a supply group supplying independently owned convenience stores.
Many people will have Costcutter stores in their town so you are still shopping at Kwik Save.
Commercial Break