Investment in the UK’s local shops has reached record highs over the last year, as convenience store retailers look to futureproof their businesses, a new report has found.
According to the 2024 Local Shop Report, published Tuesday by the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), convenience retailers spent a combined £1 billion over the last year refitting their stores, installing new energy efficient refrigeration and lighting, and detecting and preventing crime.
The investment figure is up from £646m in the previous 12 months and the highest on record since the report’s inception in 2012.
Key headlines from this year’s report include:
- 71 per cent of the 50,387 stores in the convenience sector are run by independent retailers (either unaffiliated or as part of a symbol group)
- More than half of independent retailers (56%) fund investment from their own reserves
- Convenience stores provide local, flexible and secure employment for around 445,000 people
- More than one in six convenience stores (17%) now has a self-service till, up from just 3 per cent in 2019
- Almost half of independent retailers (47%) offer some form of home delivery/click and collect service
- 80 per cent of independent retailers were actively involved in their community over the last year
Speaking on the launch of the report, ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “The convenience sector continues to demonstrate its importance to the UK economy at both a local and national level, as a vehicle for investment, as a job creator, and as a means of generating over £9bn in tax income for the Treasury.
“The investment figures we’ve seen this year are not surprising, as retailers tell us that they’re futureproofing their stores in two main ways. Firstly through hardware like efficient refrigeration, self-service tills and electronic shelf edge labels to increase the productivity of the business, and secondly through an increasingly diverse range of services like cash machines, banking services, Post Offices, prescription collections and dry cleaning – all services that previously would have taken their own place on the high street but are being brought under one roof to ensure that local people still have access to them.”
Commenting, Peter Batt, managing director of Nisa, said the report highlights the critical role independent retailers play in supporting their local communities.
“With 71 per cent of convenience stores independently owned, it’s clear the sector benefits from the personal touch and deep understanding independent shopkeepers provide, with their ability to tailor their proposition to local customer needs integral to their success,” he noted.
“Despite the ongoing challenge of retail crime and the shocking far right riots, retailers continue to demonstrate their unwavering commitment to serving and enhancing their local areas, and I’m particularly proud of the way our Nisa retailers have persevered.”
