Somerfield puts bite on rivals

Somerfield has gone shopping for its competitors' stores

Supermarket chain Somerfield is to take control of more than half of Scotland's Safeway branches.

They are being sold by the company's new owner Morrisons as part of a £260m deal. Somerfield is buying 114 of the smaller Safeway stores across the UK.

Morrisons wants to concentrate on the larger outlets and propose that 9,000 staff be transferred to Somerfield.

The deal will mean that Morrisons will be left with just 55 stores north of the border.

The vast majority of the shops currently trade under the Safeway name, but they are gradually being turned into branches of Morrisons.

Falling sales

The Safeway name is due to disappear by the end of next year.

Morrisons revealed last week that sales at Safeway branches were falling.

But business at branches which had already been turned into Morrisons outlets was rising healthily.

Somerfield announced earlier this year it was dropping its Kwik Save brand in Scotland with the loss of about 400 jobs.

The company said 29 of the Kwik Save stores would be renamed Somerfield outlets and a further 22 would be closed by the end of the year.

Somerfield said the move was necessary "to meet the challenge of today's competitive market place".

Price concerns

Management had decided to focus investment in the Somerfield brand and the recently acquired Mace convenience store chain.

The sale of smaller Safeway stores to Somerfield has been welcomed by the SNP MSP for the Highlands and Islands, Rob Gibson.

He said the move would end a period of uncertainty for small rural communities which had seen "hiking prices" in Safeway stores since the Morrisons takeover.

"While I am pleased to see this positive development, Somerfield has to guarantee that it will give its new customers the same prices wherever its stores are situated.

"I will be writing to them to seek their views," he said.