Shoprite (Isle of Man)

Shoprite Group plc at the start of the 1990 was a retail and property group based in the Isle of Man. In 1990, they purchased a former distribution warehouse from Safeway in Cambuslang near Glasgow. The company announced that they would trial running a discount limited range supermarket, opening two pilot stores in November 1990. The stores were located in Linwood and Bridge of Allan, and were styled like the English discount chain Kwik Save with basic racking and no thrills offers. The business continued to grow, mainly across Scotland's central belt, with 63 stores operating by October 1993. In June 1994 they opened their first stores in the North of England, and by October 1994 they operated 108 stores. The stores were generally converted from former car showroom and ex DIY stores, and varied between 4,000 and 13,000 square feet in size.[2]

The Head office was moved to Scotland in 1992 with aid of a Scottish Office Industry Department grant. Funding for this rapid growth was funded by sales of sideline businesses in the Isle of Man, a share issue in the stock exchange and a leaseback deal on several stores. It was estimated that Shoprite had captured 10% of the grocery market in Scotland. In May 1994, Shoprite had to release their unaudited interim results as there were rumours of poor trading performance. The results showed that sales were up 59% but profits were down, which saw the share price fall from 242p to 50p. By July, Shoprite announced a further profits warning, which resulted in its share price had fallen to 30p and banks had suspended borrowing rights. In October, another profit warning was released, and in November it was announced that Kwik Save had agreed to buy Shoprite's 117 Scottish and English stores for £45.7 million, with Shoprite retreating back to the Isle of Man. Shoprite's chairman, Deryck Nicholson whose family owned 50% of the shareholding was son of one of the founders of Kwik Save.[2][3][4][5]

Shoprite, Douglas, Little Switzerland

Shoprite currently owns 9 supermarkets in the major communities on the Isle of Man. These stores are branded Shoprite, Little Shoprite and Winerite. The Shoprite stores are located in Douglas, Peel, Ramsey, Port Erin, and Onchan. The Little Shoprite stores are in Castletown, Peel and Ramsey. There is also a Wine warehouse in Douglas trading as Winerite Extra.[6] The community food stores in Port Erin and Peel have a Subway café.[7][8]

Shoprite Douglas was the first store in the Isle of Man to install a bar-code scanning system at their tills and the Shoprite group was the first supermarket chain in the British Isles to install bar-code scanning systems in all their stores in the early 1980s.

Its major competitors are Tesco (one store in Douglas) and Manx Co-op (ten supermarkets, mostly convenience stores, across the Isle of Man).[9]

It has trading relationships with brands and partners such as Sainsbury's,[10] and previously Waitrose and Iceland (UK discount supermarket chain),[11] Subway,[12] Cook (UK frozen ready meal supplier),[13] Peacocks (UK "value" fashion retailer),[14] and Lloyds Pharmacy (UK pharmacy chain).[15]

In 2020, it announced a new long-term strategic partnership with Sainsbury's supermarkets, the 2nd largest UK retailer, to sell Sainsburys products in Shoprite stores.

In 2023, Tesco acquired all nine Shoprite shops on the Isle of Man, with the stores to be rebranded to Tesco in the next few months, and increasing their stores in the Isle of Man from one to ten.[16][17]