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THIS WEEK'S NEWS
ALDI COMMITS TO RECORD £1.3BN UK INVESTMENT
ALDI HAS ANNOUNCED THAT IS INVESTING A RECORD £1.3BN IN ITSUK BUSINESS OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS AND HAS JUST OPENEDA NEW £22M FACILITY IN BATHGATE.
Aldi’s commitment to the UK has been ramped up with the news that the discounter will invest a record £1.3bn in its UK business over the next two years.
This will include around 100 new stores, upgrading of 100 stores, the launch of new and expanded distribution centres and the roll out of new programmes like its ‘click and collect’ service which was launched recently.
The retailer expects to recruit a further 4,000 staff next year to add to the 3,000 roles already created in 2020.
Most recently, the company opened a new £22m freezer and chill facility in Bathgate on Friday, providing an extra 17,000sqm of space and allowing Aldi to expand its range of locally-sourced products.
The discounter is committed to increasing the number of Scottish products available in its stores to 500 over the next two years.
SHOPWORKER PROTECTION LAW PASSES KEY HOLYROOD VOTE
DANIEL JOHNSON’S PROPOSED PROTECTION OF WORKERS BILLCLEARED A CRUCIAL HURDLE IN THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT LASTWEEK.
MSPs have voted the proposed Protection of Workers Bill through Stage 1 of the legislative process at Holyrood, thereby accepting its general principles. The Bill now faces a further two more legislative stages before it can be made law.
Daniel Johnson, the MSP who proposed the Bill, said “it was encouraging to see all parties get behind this important issue”.
He added: “With further Covid restrictions just announced for the country, we will see more pressure on our retail staff, especially with an uncertain Christmas on the horizon.
“I look forward to working with other political parties and key stakeholders to ensure it passes the remaining parliamentary stages and becomes law, in order to afford retail workers the protection they deserve under the law.”
The Scottish Grocers’ Federation has been a long-time supporter of the proposed new law. CEO Pete Cheema said: “This is a significant step in the right direction and it is crucial that we continue to get the message across to our politicians that abuse and threatening behaviour towards shop staff is unacceptable.”
UNITAS HAILS SUCCESSFUL VIRTUAL TRADE SHOW
Unitas Wholesale has hailed its first ever virtual trade show as a huge success, held on 14 to 18 September 2020. The event was hosted on the Unitas Wholesale website and saw a 180% increase in page views and a 66% uplift in average user duration on the website.
Unitas Wholesale members were able to take advantage of a range of upweighted deals from over 100 leading brands, negotiated exclusively for the show, and benefitted from NPD and business insights from over 30 key brands.
MORRISONS BOXES CLEVER
Morrisons has launched a food box subscription service allowing shoppers to choose a weekly, fortnightly or monthly food box delivery with subscribers receiving a 5% discount. Customers switching to the box service will be offered a further 20% discount on their first shop. The boxes are ordered online for next day delivery.
The retailer first launched a food box service in March and has seen demand for the boxes increase by 56% in the last week.
The range includes boxes for meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans, fruit, meat and fish boxes, and gluten-free and lean meat boxes.
MCCURRACH REBRAND
Glasgow-based 120-yearoldsales and marketingagency McCurrach Group hasundertaken a major rebrandto help it communicate thebreadth and depth of itscapabilities spanning salesand marketing, field marketing,consultancy, experiential,digital and data.
NEW JAMES HALL STORE
North of England Sparwholesaler James Hall & Co.has announced the acquisitionand complete refurbishment ofSpar Lancaster University, thecompany’s 145th companyownedstore. The store waspreviously independentlyowned since 1995.
BREWDOG BOOST
Eco tech business Pawprinthas launched a countrywidesearch for the most climateconsciousbusinesses to joinits Pawprint Pioneers Programand take the lead on tacklingclimate change. The very firstbusiness to take up the fightis long-time environmentalchampion, multinationalbrewery and pub chainBrewDog.
MCCOLL’S £500K
McColl’s has raised £500kfor Great Ormond StreetHospital Children’s Charity,less than a year since thenational partnership launchedin October 2019. The moneyraised will help fund therefurbishment of familyaccommodation just across theroad from Great Ormond StreetHospital.
GROCERYAID TRUSTEES
Bestway MD Dawood Pervezhas joined the Board ofGroceryAid as a Trustee.Mark McKenzie, Group SalesDirector, Nestle UK & Irelandand Rhian Bartlett, Sainsbury’sDirector of Fresh Foods, alsojoin as Trustees. The industrycharity is overseen by 16Trustees, responsible for itsdevelopment, and for legal andstatutory compliance.
JISP EXPANDS
Jisp has teamed up with thethe Middle East and NorthAfrica’s biggest retail solutionsprovider, The Albex Group,to grow its presence in thethe region and empowerbusinesses with technologiesincluding digital shelf edges,NFC and QR scanning.
