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My Local was a chain of 130
convenience shops A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...
in the
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. Funded by the private equity house and turnaround specialists Greybull Capital, My Local was formed in 2015 to acquire
Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar. The company is headqu ...
struggling chain of M Local convenience shops with a view to bringing the shops into profitability. My Local was founded and run by Mike Greene, a convenience shop veteran who was critical of how Morrisons had run the shops and boasted of his ability to turn them around, bragging that the chain would be profitable in its first year. Under Greene's leadership, sales at the My Local shops collapsed as customers defected to rivals, citing My Local's poor produce, high prices and lack of availability. Sales at My Local were significantly down on the levels achieved when the shops were run by Morrisons. As a result in February 2016, less than four months after it began trading, My Local was forced to appoint
KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...
to review the options for the struggling chain and began a process of selling off a number of its few profitable sites to competitors. My Local went into administration on 29 June 2016.


History


Morrisons M local

In September 2010, Morrisons announced that it would operate a number of smaller shops to be called M local (later Morrisons M local) in major cities such as
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,
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
,
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
and
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
. These shops would have a similar format to small
Tesco Express Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...
and
Sainsbury's Local Sainsbury's Local (a trading name of Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd) is a chain of 770 convenience shops operated by the UK's second largest supermarket chain Sainsbury's. History In 1998, Sainsbury's piloted its first Local shop in Hammersmith ...
shops, but include a wider range of ready-to-eat hot food such as pastries, coffee, rotisserie and porridge, as well as also having a salad bar. Items would be stocked from nearby Morrisons superstores and shoppers would also be able to order foods in, including fresh meat and fish. The first Morrisons M local shop opened in
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,
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in 2011. A distribution centre in
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,
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was acquired to provide a distribution network to the shops in
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and the South East where there are fewer superstores. Around 70 shops were opened by the end of 2013, which was boosted by the purchase of seven
Jessops Jessops (Group) Limited is a British photographic retailing company. It was established in 1935 by Frank Jessop in Leicester, United Kingdom. The company controls Jessops Europe Limited, which in turn control JR Prop Limited (formally Jessops Re ...
and 49
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premises from administrators. On 26 February 2013, a further six
HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...
shops were acquired from administrators. In November 2014, Morrisons announced that six unprofitable convenience shops would close, and the roll-out of the convenience shop chain would be slowed, as a batch of 40 sites would no longer be bought. Morrisons announced the closure of a further 23 loss-making M local convenience shops in March 2015.


My Local

In September 2015, Morrisons announced the sale of its 140 M Local shops to Mike Greene and Greybull Capital, to be re-branded as My Local, for £25 million. Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc sold its wholly owned subsidiary Wm Morrison Convenience Stores Limited on 26 October 2015 to MLCG Limited. Nisa would supply the new chain, in a five-year, £1 billion deal, and the shops were re-branded as My Local at the same time. My Local also announced it would be re-opening 10 former M local shops that Morrisons had previously shut. Disastrous sales at My Local under Mike Greene's leadership meant that only one of the closed sites was re-opened under the My Local banner. In February 2016, MLCG engaged KPMG to review the options available to the company. It was decided that cost savings were required, combined with a significant uplift in revenue. In March 2016, it emerged that My Local was in talks with
The Co-operative Group Co-operative Group Limited, trading as Co-op, is a British consumer co-operative with a group of retail businesses including food retail, wholesale, e-pharmacy, insurance and legal services, and funeral care. The Co-operative Group has over ...
about a potential asset swap. My Local could purchase up to 40 former
Somerfield Somerfield (; originally Gateway) was a chain of small to medium-sized supermarkets operating in the United Kingdom. The company also previously owned the Kwik Save chain of discount food stores. The company was taken over by the Co-operati ...
shops, and in return, the Co-op would purchase a handful of existing My Local branches. In June 2016, it was rumoured that the owners of My Local had called in KPMG for emergency help, the plan being that KPMG would help draw up last-minute plans, which included the company going into administration. This came just nine months after the company's creation, putting 2,300 jobs at risk.
Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar. The company is headqu ...
announced it would look to redeploy all of its former employees affected by the collapse of My Local in its shops. From 27 June, shops began to close, with all shops closed by 1 July. Since the collapse of the My Local chain, seven shops have been sold to Blakemore Retail (
Spar SPAR, originally DESPAR, styled as DE SPAR, is a Dutch multinational that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well, ...
), six to
the Co-operative Group Co-operative Group Limited, trading as Co-op, is a British consumer co-operative with a group of retail businesses including food retail, wholesale, e-pharmacy, insurance and legal services, and funeral care. The Co-operative Group has over ...
and six to The Southern Co-operative.


See also

*
Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar. The company is headqu ...


References


External links


My Local
{{Convenience stores Supermarkets of the United Kingdom British brands Convenience stores Retail companies established in 2011 Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom Retail companies disestablished in 2015 Retail companies established in 2015 Retail companies disestablished in 2016 Companies that have entered administration in the United Kingdom