Sainsbury's acquires Derry Homebase store to convert into supermarket

The store, based at Crescent Link Retail Park, is one 10 leasehold stores Sainsbury’s has acquired from Homebase, which it will convert into supermarkets.

In a statement released on Thursday, the supermarket said the transaction, which is expected to be complete in early September, forms part of their ‘Next Level’ plan to offer more food choice to more customers.

Sainsbury’s, which has a store on Derry’s Strand Road, said that the acquired stores are in ‘key target locations’ that will help to grow the supermarket’s coverage across England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

It includes stores in Birmingham Sutton Coldfield, Bromsgrove, Cromer, Derry, Fareham, Inverurie, Lowestoft, Homebase Newark, Omagh, and Rugby.

The grocer said that, once converted, the shop floor area of the stores will range from approximately 15,000 to 40,000 sq ft and will add a total of around 235,000 sq ft to its supermarket trading space.

They added that the addition of new locations ‘means nearly 400,000 more people will be within a 10-minute drive of a Sainsbury’s store, with the retailer planning to open the first of these stores next summer’.

It aims to complete the conversion of all sites by the end of 2025.

It is investing £130m into the acquisition, including the cost of fitting out stores. However, Sainsbury’s said that its free cash flow targets remain unchanged.

The conversion of these sites is expected to create approximately 1,000 new roles, and the retailer said it will ‘guarantee an interview for any Homebase staff that are placed at risk of redundancy as a result of the transaction’.

Sainsbury’s chief executive Simon Roberts 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.”

The Journal has contacted Homebase for further information on the future of its Derry base and its employees.