16 Facts About Kwik Save

Kwik Save is a British convenience store chain that was founded in the United Kingdom.

Kwik Save rented its first retail shop in Queen Street, Rhyl, in July 1959.

In November 1994, Kwik Save acquired 117 supermarkets from Shoprite, a fellow food discounter, for £45 million.

Kwik Save subsequently accepted that it was focused too much on acquisitions rather than its existing operations.

In February 1998, Kwik Save merged with Somerfield, and began operating as a trading division of Somerfield Stores Ltd.

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All Kwik Save shops were to be rebranded as Somerfield, but it was quickly realised that the look and feel of existing Kwik Save shops – featuring warehouse style wooden shelving, space saving small checkouts and narrow aisles – would not lend itself well to the Somerfield fascia.

In December 2006, The Sunday Times reported that Kwik Save was suffering from a "sharp fall in sales and mounting losses", and was seeking another financial injection.

On 29 May 2007, Kwik Save announced plans to close 79 shops with immediate effect.

On 14 June 2007, Kwik Save announced plans to close a further twenty two shops with immediate effect, in order to protect them from the danger of administration.

On 21 June 2007, Kwik Save announced to the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers that it would not be paying staff, who were expecting to be paid the following day.

Kwik Save was left with 56 shops, which were transferred to a new company called FreshXpress, run by Irish retail entrepreneur Brendan Murtagh.

Kwik Save shops were primarily aimed at the lower end of the food market, a position which was maintained throughout the company's history, except for the introduction of some non-food lines during the Somerfield era.

Kwik Save was seen for many years as the poor relation of Somerfield, consisting only of shops which were considered unsuitable for conversion to the more upmarket fascia, resulting in a further dilution of brand strength.

In July 1994, Kwik Save reduced the price of its No Frills Baked Beans, to 7p for a 425g tin, in response to British pricing by Aldi and Netto.

Traditionally, Kwik Save shops had warehouse style wooden shelving, laid out in a traditional style familiar from most early supermarkets.

Around a third of the Kwik Save estate was transformed, with each shop having between £300,000 and £1,000,000 invested in the improvements.