List of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom

Tesco is the largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom.

This is a list of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom. Grocery sales in the UK are dominated by Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons. These "big four" had a combined market share of 73.2 percent of the UK grocery market in the 12 weeks ending 4 January 2015,^[1] a decline from 74.1 percent in 2007.^[2] Discounters Aldi and Lidl have seen a combined rise in market share from 4.8 percent to 8.3 percent over that time, while upscale grocer Waitrose's share rose from 3.9 to 5.1 percent.

Premier Supermarkets, a subsidiary of Express Dairies, opened the UK's first supermarket in Streatham, South London in 1951, though The Co-operative Food opened Britain's first fully self-service store in March 1948 in Albert Road, Southsea.^[3]

List of current UK supermarket chains

Supermarket	Image	Founded/Came to UK	Owned by	Market Share; April 2015 [4]	2007 Market Share[2]	2000 Market Share[5]	Number of Stores	Notes
Aldi		1990	Aldi Süd GmbH	5.3	2.6	1.5	560	No frills supermarket
Asda		1949	Wal-Mart through subsidiary Corinth Services Ltd	17.1	16.6	14.1	603	Founded from the merger of Associated Dairies and the Asquith family owned Queens Supermarket. Originally called ASDA Queens.
Budgens		1872	Booker Group [6]	0.4	0.4	0.4	190	Found in England and Wales, with stores up to 10,000 square feet (930 m^2)
Cooltrader		2001	Heron Foods				54	Opened in Wrexham, the business was founded by Iceland founder Malcolm Walker after his sacking by the Big Food Group.[7] Cooltrader became part of Iceland after Malcolm Walker's takeover of the business, but it was sold after a review in 2012 to Heron Foods.[8]
Co-op,* and The Co-operative Food		-	Various Co-op societies	6.0	4.4	5.4	4,039	Identities shared by about 20 retail co-operatives, including: The Co-operative Group (the largest, with 5.4 percent market share) East of England Co-operative Society Midcounties Co-operative Central England Co-operative Scotmid see also The Co-operative Group#List of corporate members
Farmfoods		1955	-	0.7	0.5	-	320	-
Fulton's Foods		1974	Uk Private Company	-	-	-	100	Small supermarket chain based in South Yorkshire with branches across the Midlands and North of England
Heron Foods		1979	UK Private Company	-	-	-	240	Primarily frozen foods, operates stores throughout the Midlands and the North.
Iceland		1970	-	2.2	1.6	2.8	850	first store opened at Oswestry, Shropshire in 1970.
Lidl		1994	Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG	3.7	2.2	1.3	630	No frills supermarket
Marks & Spencer		1884	Publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange	3.8[9]	4.3[10]	-	852	Clothing and food retailer
Morrisons		1899	Publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange	10.9	11.2	4.9	569	Fourth biggest supermarket in the UK
Ocado		2002	Publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange	-	-	-	0	Online only, product supply partnership with Waitrose; outsourced branded delivery partnership with Morrisons.
Sainsbury's		1869	Publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange	16.9	16.2	17.9	1,304	Superstores as well as 'Local' and 'Central' sites
Tesco		1919	Publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange	28.4	31.6	25.0	6,814	Including 'Extra', 'Superstores', 'Metro', 'Express' and 'Homeplus' outlets. UK's largest all-purpose retailer
Waitrose		1904	John Lewis Partnership	5.1	3.9	2.7	344	Waitrose has a variety of store styles, including; 'Waitrose Stores', 'Waitrose Convenience Stores and Little Waitrose', 'John Lewis Foodhall', 'Waitrose Food, Fashion & Home', 'Waitrose Food & Home' , 'Welcome Break outlets' (Motorway Services Outlets).

List of defunct UK supermarket chains

These supermarkets are either no longer trading, have been renamed, or have been taken over and rebranded.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Supermarket	Image	Founded/Came to UK	Fate	Closed	Notes
APT Stores					Chain of small supermarkets with the catchphrase The Store with More.[11]
Bejam		1968	Bought by Iceland	1989	Frozen Foods
Big W		1998	Discontinued, rebranded as Woolworths.	2004	21 Store chain of megastores styled after Walmart in America. 7 of the stores were sold to Asda and Tesco (The stores that had permission to stock groceries) and the remaining 14 stores were rebranded and downsized under the regular Woolworths banner.
Bishops			Bought by Budgens[12]	1984	63 stores in South East England
BP Safeway		1962	Dissolved following Safeway takeover by Morrisons		Partnership between BP plc and Safeway, listed as Equinox retailing. Some stores now Tesco Express
Burton Supermarkets			Bought by Fine Fare.		Small Nottinghamshire based supermarket chain purchased by Fine fare and re-branded.
Capital Freezer Centres			Now owned by Farmfoods		Chain of freezer stores located in England and Scotland, was owned by United Biscuits since 1979. A management buyout happened in 1989.[13][14]
Carrefour		1970s	UK business sold to Gateway/Somerfield, then later to Asda	1990
Cartier's Superfoods		c.1970	Bought by Tesco	1979	Small Kent based supermarket chain taken over by TESCO
Cater Brothers		1958	Became part of Prestos	1979	Cater Brothers were a South East-based chain. In 1972 they were bought out by Debenhams after the death of the chairman Leslie Cater in the same plane crash that killed F J Wallis. In 1979 Debenhams sold the chain to Allied Suppliers who re-branded the stores under their Presto brand.
Challenge Supermarket			Became part of Frank Dee		Supermarket based in Yorkshire that was purchased by Frank Dee in the 1980s and incorporated into the chain.[15]
Coopers & Co			Bought by Fine Fare.	1955	Scottish based supermarket and grocers chain bough by Fine Fare and re-branded as Coopers Fine Fare.
Cordon Bleu		1964[16]	Owned by Allied Supplies		Chain of freezer shops owned by Allied Supplies. Stores were re-branded under the Lo-cost or Presto name
County Stores			Sold to Gateway, converted to Somerfield	1990
Crazy Prices			Bought by Tesco		ABF owned Northern Ireland group
Downsway Supermarkets			Bought by Fine Fare	1978	East Anglian based supermarket group with 80 stores owned by Vestey Group. Sold in 1978 and converted to Fine Fare stores.
David Greig			Bought by Fitch Lovell		Merged into Key Markets
DEE Discount Stores			Re-branded as Gateway, later Somerfield now owned by Co-op		Chain of supermarkets based in North East of England. Parent company Linfood Holdings purchased the smaller Gateway chain and re-branded stores as Gateway and the parent company as Dee Corporation
Elmo			Bought by Fine Fare		Small chain of 28 stores based in East Anglia and the South of England. Bought for £1m by Fine Fare. Rebranded as Fine Fare
Fairway		c.1960s	Bought by Frank Dee	1980s	Doncaster based chain of supermarkets bought by Frank Dee in 1980s and converted into that chain.[17]
Fine Fare		1951	Bought by Gateway	1986	Britain's third supermarket until the 1980s behind Tesco & Sainsburys. Bought by Gateway Corp. in 1986 and shops rebranded as Gateway by 1988.
Freezeway			Bought by Farmfoods		Small chain of freezershops bought by Farmfoods[14]
FreshXpress		2007	Administration in 2008, liquidated in 2009	2009	Smaller stores of former Kwik Save chain. Bought out by management team led by Brendan Murtagh
Frank Dee Supermarkets			Re-branded as Gateway, later Somerfield now owned by Co-op		Chain of supermarkets based in North East of England. Parent company Linfood Holdings purchased the smaller Gateway chain and re-branded stores as Gateway and the parent company as Dee Corporation
Galbraith supermarkets		1894	Bought by Allied Suppliers, then Argyll Group		Scottish chain
Gateway Foodmarkets		1950	Rebranded as Somerfield	1992
Grandways			Some stores sold to Argyll Group for their Presto chain and Kwik Save, remainder renamed Jacksons	1992/3	Regional in Yorkshire
GT Smith			Bought by Co-operative Group	2002	Regional in West Yorkshire
Haldanes		2009	(including UGO stores)	2011	Went into administration 2011
Hanburys		1889	Bought by Co-Op.	1997	Started in 1889 when Jeremiah Hanbury opened a small store in Market Street, Farnworth, selling butter and bacon. In 1929, the business was bought by Bolton wholesale grocers E.H. Steele Ltd. In 1997 the 31 Hanburys stores, which cover the North-west, including 8 in Bolton were acquired by United Norwest Co-op and subsequently re-branded.
Hillards		1880	Bought by Tesco	1988	Several locations throughout Midlands, North East
Hintons			Bought by Argyll Foods to become part of Presto		Mainly in North East England and Yorkshire
Irwin's Stores			Bought by Tesco
International		1874	Bought by Dee Corporation	1996	Stores were re-branded gateway or sold off to competitors
Jacksons			Bought by J Sainsbury	2008	See also Grandways - above - which was originally part of the same group. Stores originally traded under the Jacksons name, and were slowly converted to the Grandways brand. After the sale to Sainsbury, the Jackson name was revived for a chain of smaller stores in the Wm Jackson until they were sold and were re-branded Sainsbury Local
Kenton Supermarkets					Small chain based in North West of England
Key Markets			Bought by Dee Corporation		Created by food giant Fitch Lovell. Re-branded as Gateway.
Kibby's Supermarkets					Chain of supermarkets bought by Unigate. Stores were sold off to various companies including WM Low and International Stores.
Kwik Save		1959	Brand now owned by Costcutter		Company purchased by Somerfield in 1998. Name and 177 stores sold by Somerfield in 2006 but went into administration in 2007.
Laws Stores		c.1890s	Bought by Wm Low for £7.1 million in 1985.	1985	Chain of supermarkets focused on North East England
Lennons Supermarkets		1958	Bought by Dee Corporation		Chain of Supermarkets based in North East. Started as small chain of grocers but opened first supermarket in 1956 in Widnes. Bought by the Dee Corporation before being re-branded as Gateway.
Leos			Rebranded Co-op		Name given to larger co-operative stores during the 1980s
Liptons		1871	Bought by Allied Suppliers		Converted to Presto or Lo-Cost stores
Lo-Cost			Converted to Safeway.
Lowfreeze			Bought by Bejam		Small chain of freezer shops bought by Bejam[14]
Mac Fisheries			Bought by Dee Group	1978	Wet fish shops closed
Mainstop			Acquired by Morrisons	1981
Moore Stores			Bought by Cavenham and added to Allied Suppliers group	1976	Chain of small supermarkets based in the North East of England which had a turnover of £53m in 1969/70.[18] Rebranded either Liptons or Presto.
Netto		1990	Bought by Asda in 2010 for £778M from Dansk Supermarked Group. 147 stores were rebranded in 2011 as Asda local stores. The remaining 47 stores have been sold off to other companies such as Morrisons and new convenience store UGO and other retailers due to competition laws. Netto is soon returning to UK, in a partnership with Sainsburys and is initially opening 15 stores in the north of England.[19]	2011	Was a no frills supermarket. On 30 September 2011, Netto UK ceased trading. In 2014, the supermarket announced they will be returning to the UK with 15 stores.[19]
Normans supermarkets			Bought by Plymco
Normid			Rebranded Co-op		Was owned by United Co-operatives
Norco			Rebranded Co-op		Aberdeen based co-operative society
Orchard Frozen Foods			Bought by Iceland	1986	Chain of freezer centers based in the South East of England
Premier Supermarkets			Bought by Mac Fisheries	1965	Subsidiary of Express Dairies, opened UK's first supermarket in Streatham, South London in 1951.[3] Sold after losing out on purchase of Irwin's stores to Tesco
Presto		1977	After buying out Safeway, all stores were converted to Safeway.	1998
Price Rite					Chain of stores purchased by British American Tobacco and incorporated into International Stores. Stores re-branded as International Stores, before being sold off to Fine Fare and Argyll Foods
Quality Fare			Bought by the Co-operative Group
Queens Supermarkets		1958	Merged with Associated Dairies and GEN to form ASDA	1965	Small chain of supermarkets started by Asquith family in Pontefract. In 1965 merged with Associated Dairies and purchased the GEN brand, relaunching as ASDA Queens, before becoming ASDA. ASDA is an abbreviation of ASquith and DAiries.
Rainbow			Discontinued, rebranded as parent Co-op
Richway Supermarkets					Retail chain operating in South of England and the Isle of Wight
Safeway (UK)		1962	Bought by Morrisons	2005	Safeway Compact stores sold to Somerfield. Was still trading under Safeway in Channel Islands until becoming Waitrose in 2010.
Sainsbury's Savacentre		1977	Discontinued, Rebranded Sainsbury's	2005	Savacentre was a joint project started by Sainsburys and BHS to compete in Hypermarket scene. Sainsburys added when BHS pulled out of the company.
Saverite		1968	Bought by West Midlands Co-operative Society which later became Mid-counties Co-operative after a merger with Oxford, Swindon and Gloucester Co-operative	2000	Shropshire based grocery business started in 1869. Renamed Saverite in 1968 (from Morris & Co) and expanded into supermarkets. Sold to Mid-Counties Co-operative in 2000.[20]
Schofield & Martin			Rebranded Waitrose	c.1965	Small chain of grocers based in South Essex purchased by Waitrose in 1944. Had the first self-service supermarket store within the Waitrose group in 1951.
Shoppers Paradise			Taken over by Gateway		Discount Food Store chain created by Associated British Food from un-profitable Fine Fare stores. Became part of Gateway as part of Fine Fare purchase.
Shop Rite		1972	Bought by Kwik Save, Still trades as ShopRite in the Isle of Man stocking a range of Waitrose & Iceland products as well as locally produced goods	1994	Discount supermarket chain
Smiths Freezer Centres				c.1990s	Small chain of freezer stores located in Essex. Went into liquidation during the 1990s.
Somerfield		1865	Purchase agreed by the Co-operative Group on 16 July 2008 for £1.56bn; from 2009 many larger stores were sold off and smaller stores rebranded to The Co-operative Food[21]	2011
Food Giant			Originally part of Somerfield group, all stores converted to Kwik Save following the Somerfield/Kwik Save merger
Solo			Trading name of Gateways - rebranded Somerfield.		Trading name created by Gateways
St Catherine's Freezer Centres			Bought by Iceland	1983	Chain of 18 Freezer centres located in Bristol and South West area
Stewarts Supermarket Limited			Bought by Tesco		ABF owned Northern Ireland group
Stitchers Supermarkets			Bought by Downsway.		Small chain of supermarkets purchased by Downsway and re-branded.
Supernational Stores		1935	Bought by Gateway
Templeton supermarkets		1880	Bought by Allied Suppliers then Argyll Group		Scottish chain, rebranded as Presto
Victor Value			Bought by Tesco	1968/1986	Independent chain. Larger stores were rebranded as Tesco, remaining sold to Bejam in 1986
Wallis		1955	Bought by Somerfield	2003	Founded by Francis J Wallis of Rainham Essex in 1955. By 1968 there were 38 stores. In 1977 the chain's 100 stores were sold to British American Tobacco and merged with their already owned chain International Stores. The stores were re-branded International. The company officially still existed and was wound up by Somerfield, who had purchased International Stores in 2003.
Wavy Line					Small chain of small supermarkets and convenience stores located in the South and South East of England.
Walter Wilson			Bought by Alldays		Chain of small supermarkets and convenience stores in the north east of England and Cumbria.
Wellworths			Bought by Musgrave Group & Safeway	1997	Northern Ireland supermarket chain split into Supervalu and Safeway.
Whelan Discount Stores			Bought by Morrisons for £1.5 million.[22]	1978	Chain of supermarkets based in Lancashire started by Wigan Athletic FC owner David Whelan
Wm Low			Bought by Tesco		Presence in Scotland and northern England
Williamson & Treadgold					Bournemouth based grocers that opened a supermarket at The Hampshire Centre.[23] The store was eventually purchased by Sainsburys.
Woolco		1966	Discontinued, rebranded as Woolworth and later Bought by Gateway In 1986.	1982	Hypermarket chain started by Woolworth

See also

• For supermarkets worldwide see List of supermarkets
• Kantar Worldpanel - UK grocery market share figures
• List of Convenience stores of the United Kingdom
• List of discount stores in the United Kingdom

References

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2. "UK: Discounters Benefit From Downturn". KamCity. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
3. Helen Gregory (2001-11-03). "It's a super anniversary: it's 50 years since the first full size self-service supermarket was unveiled in the UK". The Grocer. Retrieved 2010-06-30.
4. http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-3030079/British-shoppers-quids-prices-fall-fastest-rate-records-began-Aldi-UK-s-sixth-biggest-supermarket.html
5. http://www.fooddeserts.org/images/supshare.htm
6. http://www.musgravegroup.com/en/news/news_article/Musgrave_Group_Agrees_Sale_of_Budgens_and_Londis_to_Booker.php
7. "Malcolm Walker's biography - Iceland.co.uk". Retrieved 31 March 2016.
8. "Iceland agrees Cooltrader sale to Heron Foods". Retrieved 31 March 2016.
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11. "Vintage shoppoing bags - Little Red Dog". Retrieved 11 May 2015.
12. Competition Commission report, para 3.10 (a)
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14. "Capital assets - The Herald p. 23 December 1989". Retrieved 11 May 2015.
15. "u09456 - Picture Sheffield". Retrieved 21 December 2015.
16. "Company Check". Retrieved 11 May 2015.
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19. http://www.scunthorpetelegraph.co.uk/Sainsbury-s-Netto-stores-plan-create-300-jobs/story-21747557-detail/story.html
20. "Morris & Co - Heritage". Retrieved 11 May 2015.
21. "Co-op buys rival supermarket Somerfield". AFP via Google News. 2008-07-16. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
22. "FA Cup final: Wigan's Whelan makes poignant Wembley return - BBC Sports Website p.9 May 2015". Retrieved 30 April 2015.
23. "Castlepoint before it was Castlepoint - Bournemouth Echo p.18 March 2015". Retrieved 19 February 2016.