Investment in local convenience shops reached record highs over the last year as owners looked to future-proof their businesses.
The 2024 Local Shop Report, published by the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), shows convenience retailers spent a combined £1bn (up from £646m in the previous 12 months) refitting their stores, installing new energy-efficient refrigeration and lighting, and detecting and preventing crime. The investment figure is the highest on record since the report’s inception in 2012.
Other headlines from this year’s report include:
- 71% 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 employment for around 445,000 people
- More than one in six convenience stores (17%) now has a self-service till, up from just 3% in 2019
- Almost half of independent retailers (47%) offer some form of home delivery/click & collect service
- 80% of independent retailers were actively involved in their community over the last year
“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,” commented ACS Chief Executive James Lowman.
“The investment figures we’ve seen this year are not surprising, as retailers tell us that they’re future-proofing 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.”
