Sainsbury's has reached an agreement to acquire 10 leasehold stores from HHGL, trading as Homebase, for conversion into Sainsbury's supermarkets. The transaction is expected to complete in early September, and further signals Homebase owner Hilco's intent to divest itself of the homewares brand.
"A key ambition of our Next Level Sainsbury's plan is to offer more food choice to more customers," states Sainsbury's. "The acquired stores are in key target locations that will grow Sainsbury's supermarket coverage across England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, bringing Sainsbury's quality and value to new customers and communities."
Once they are converted, the shopfloor area of the stores will range from approximately 15,000 to 40,000 sqft and will add a total of around 235,000 sqft to the retailer's supermarket trading space. The addition of new locations means nearly 400,000 more people will be within a 10-minute drive of a Sainsbury's supermarket.
The first of these stores will open next summer, and Sainsbury's aims to complete the conversion of all sites by the end of 2025. The gross investment value of the acquisition, being the total capitalised cost of leases, acquisition premium and fit-out costs, is expected to be approximately £130m.
The conversion of these sites into supermarkets is expected to create approximately 1000 new Sainsbury's roles. Sainsbury's says it will guarantee an interview for any Homebase employees who are put at risk of redundancy as a result of this transaction.
Simon Roberts, Chief Executive Officer, J Sainsbury, says: "Sainsbury's food business continues to go from strength to strength as we push ahead with our Next Level Sainsbury's plan. We have the best combination of value and quality in the market and that's winning us customers from all our key competitors and driving consistent growth in volume market share. We want to build on this momentum which is why we are growing our supermarket footprint. Our ambition is to be customers' first choice for food and these new stores will showcase some of the best that Sainsbury's supermarkets have to offer to even more communities around the country."
