Convenience store openings up by a fifth as the big four try to match our changing shopping habits
Convenience stores are popping up all over the country as people do fewer weekly shops and opt for fewer, more frequent trips instead.
The number of convenience stores has risen by 21 per cent in the past five years.
The big four supermarkets – Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons – opened the stop-off shops at the highest rate, according to research from the Local Data Company (LDC).
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Big retailers have been changing strategy with their property portfolios. Between 2013 and 2015, the growth rate of supermarkets fell from 5.3 per cent to 1.6 per cent.
The traditional brands have been struggling to adapt to the public's changing shopping habits – they now face a challenge from Amazon, the internet giant, which has launched a food service in London.
Matthew Hopkinson, director at LDC, said: "The way people shop has changed, which has impacted the large superstores' sales, which has been further impacted by convenience formats of the same supermarkets alongside the discounters and the symbol groups.
"The role and relevance of food shopping for consumers is changing profoundly. We have seen the physical impact but unlike other sectors we have yet to see the online impact.
"Perhaps Amazon will be the catalyst to change this and if it does then we will see some retailers under significant pressures over the next five years."