Bristol’s 18 McColl’s convenience stores will be taken over by Morrisons after the supermarket chain won a battle with a rival bidder to buy the ailing chain.
Morrisons have said they will guarantee to keep all the stores open and retain all the staff - and pay workers at least £10 an hour. It appears increasingly likely that all the McColl’s across the city, and the rest of the country, will convert - as seven in Bristol have already - to Morrisons Daily stores, with the McColl’s name being lost to the high street forever.
Morrisons beat off a rival offer from petrol station empire EG Group with McColl’s administrators opting for Morrisons because of its close links to McColl’s already.
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The supermarket chain is already in a supply agreement, with Morrisons supplying fresh produce to McColl’s across the country. Morrisons will now pay off McColl’s £170m debts, take on its 1,160 shops, and the business’s pension schemes. Rob Lewis, the joint administrator at Price Waterhouse Coopers, the administrators called in by McColl’s when it began to hit trouble last week, said the deal provided ‘much needed certainty to McColl’s 16,000 staff after a period of understandable concern’.
Morrisons’ chief executive David Potts said he thought the deal was a good one for all concerned.
“Although we are disappointed that the business was put into administration, we believe this is a good outcome for McColl's and all its stakeholders,” he said. “This transaction offers stability and continuity for the McColl's business and, in particular, a better outcome for its colleagues and pensioners."
Bristol and the Bristol area has 18 McColl’s stores - in Bishopsworth, two in Hartcliffe, Stockwood, Knowle, Southville, Spike Island, Old Market, Oldland Common, Keynsham, Lockleaze, Frenchay, Southmead, Filton, Little Stoke, The Mall at Cribbs Causeway, Patchway and Severn Beach, along with eight existing Morrisons Daily stores - at Withywood, Filwood, Hanham, Oldbury Court, Henleaze, Lawrence Weston and Brentry.
Union leaders for the shopworkers union Usdaw said they welcomed the takeover. Joanne McGuinness, Usdaw’s national officer, said 16,000 jobs had been saved, and now Usdaw would be working to seek assurances on behalf of the McColl’s staff.
“It is great news that Morrisons has been successful in their bid to buy McColl’s out of administration and it will be a huge relief for the staff,” she said. “We are now seeking urgent discussions with Morrisons to help secure the future for the staff.
“McColl’s was a non-unionised business, which meant their staff had no real voice in the future of the business. Usdaw has a long-standing and productive relationship with Morrisons and we will be looking to extend trade union representation to all staff in McColl’s,” she added.
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