Express & Star

Stars News Shops is sold

Stars News Shops, the Wolverhampton-based convenience stores and newsagents, has been sold to Midcounties Co-operative, it was announced today. Stars News Shops, the Wolverhampton-based convenience stores and newsagents, has been sold to Midcounties Co-operative, it was announced today. All 150 shops will change hands in the deal with Midcounties - formed following the merger of Walsall-based West Midlands Co-op with Oxford, Swindon and Gloucester Co-op - taking on all members of staff. Mr Graham Evers, chief executive of the the Claverley company which owns News Shops, said that whilst selling the chain was a difficult decision to reach, he was delighted that a deal could be concluded with a business which already enjoyed a strong local presence and under whose stewardship he believed it would continue to prosper. Read the full story in the Express & Star

Published

Stars News Shops, the Wolverhampton-based convenience stores and newsagents, has been sold to Midcounties Co-operative, it was announced today.

All 150 shops will change hands in the deal with Midcounties - formed following the merger of Walsall-based West Midlands Co-op with Oxford, Swindon and Gloucester Co-op - taking on all members of staff.

Mr Graham Evers, chief executive of the the Claverley company which owns News Shops, said that whilst selling the chain was a difficult decision to reach, he was delighted that a deal could be concluded with a business which already enjoyed a strong local presence and under whose stewardship he believed it would continue to prosper.Ben Reid, chief executive of Midcounties Co-op, added: "This represents a very important acquisition for the society which will greatly increase our presence in the convenience store market and give us a significant entry into CTN (confectioner, tobacconist and newsagent) retailing.

"Stars is a strong business which will benefit further from being part of a larger retailer like the Co-op. "Initially we will simply take on ownership of the Stars businesses, so staff and customers will see no major changes.

"However, in the future we will bring the two businesses closer together, benefiting from each other's expertise." News Shops, which has been sold for an undisclosed sum, operates stores in the Midlands, the South West and the Home Counties which trade as "Stars."

The 3,000 full-time and part-time staff currently employed in the Stars operation will see no change in their employment terms following the acquisition, with the deal set to be completed on March 2.

Until then Claverley will continue to own and operate the business from the Wolverhampton-based head office, and the Co-op have already said they want to meet staff at the earliest opportunity to get more involved in understanding how the Stars group operates.

Following the acquisition the society will run just under 300 retail outlets - a combination of supermarkets, convenience stores and newsagents.

Stars News Shops has been part of the Claverley Group, owners of the Express & Star, Shropshire Star and associated weekly newspapers.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.