Morrisons plans to open a second distribution site to serve its growing network of convenience stores.
The UK retailer said it had taken a lease on a site in Bury in Lancashire. Wincantons will run the facility on behalf of Morrisons, which opened a distribution centre in west London for its M Local c-stores in March.
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Neal Austin, logistics and supply chain director at Morrisons, said: “This is a big year for M Local as we expand at pace. The convenience market is a fantastic opportunity for us and, as we expand our store offering, we’ve got to make sure we have the infrastructure to support it. We have spoken at length about the importance of us developing a presence in London and the south east, which will be our initial focus, but it’s crucial to us that we also bring our great M local offering to our customers up here in our heartland as well.”
The UK’s fourth-largest grocer is aiming to have over 100 Morrisons M Local convenience stores open by the end of January.
Morrisons is playing catch up in the UK’s growing convenience channel to supermakret rivals like Tesco and Sainsbury’s. It only opened its first c-store in 2011 but has been busy expanding its estate. At the turn of the year, it snapped up stores from UK retailers HMV, Blockbuster and Jessops after they went into administration.
