Sainsbury’s acquires 10 Homebase stores

Sainsbury’s has announced that it has acquired 10 stores from HHGL Limited, trading as Homebase, for conversion into Sainsbury’s supermarkets.

The acquired stores are in key target locations that will grow Sainsbury’s supermarket coverage across England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Once they are converted, the shop floor area of the stores will range from approximately 15,000 to 40,000 sq ft.

This will add a total of around 235,000 square feet to its 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 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 1,000 new Sainsbury’s roles.

Sainsbury’s has stated that it will guarantee an interview for any Homebase staff who are placed at risk of redundancy as a result of this transaction.

Simon Roberts, CEO of J Sainsbury plc, said: “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.”