NEWS DIGEST
THIS WEEK’S NEWS FOR ALL THE LATEST NEWS, HEAD TO WWW.SLRMAG.CO.UK/CATEGORY/NEWS/
NISA RETAILERS HIT £100K
NEWSTRADE
a milestone amount of over
MENZIES UNDER PRESSURE ON CARRIAGE CHARGES
£100,000 for local causes to
PRESSURE IS MOUNTING ON MENZIES DISTRIBUTION TO FOLLOW
date with Making a Difference
THE LEAD OF TWO NEWS WHOLESALERS SOUTH OF THE BORDER
Locally collecting tins sited
IN FREEZING CARRIAGE CHARGES.
Nisa retailers have raised
in their stores. Funds were raised via more than 1,000 tins in stores across the UK and Ireland, for retailers to donate to a local good cause of their choice through Nisa’s charity.
ACS SUMMIT21 The Association of Convenience Stores has confirmed the date of its biggest annual conference, taking place virtually as an
Scotland’s local retailers are waiting to see if Menzies Distribution will follow the example set by News UK DTR (Direct to Retail) in suspending any review of carriage charges. Smiths News was first to act, announcing a suspension of any review
of carriage charges until September 2022, prompting the NFRN to call on Menzies to follow suit. Then, less than 24 hours after the Smiths announcement, News UK increased the pressure on Menzies by saying It would postpone any review until May 2021. Branding carriage charges as “unfair and illogical,” NFRN National President Stuart Reddish warned that any further increases “could push yet more newsagents out of business”.
immersive event on 13 April. Summit21 will cover three key themes in relation to the convenience sector: recover, retain and reimagine. The sessions will be co-chaired by ACS chief executive James Lowman and Central England Co-operative chief executive Debbie Robinson. To register your interest, please contact viki.neaves@acs.org.uk.
LET UNDER-18s KEEP SELLING LOTTERY Independent retailers are calling for sales assistants under the age of 18 to be allowed to continue to sell national lottery tickets and scratchcards to customers when new age to play restrictions take effect later in the year. The NFRN has written to Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden explaining the difficulties that retailers will face if sales assistants must be 18 or over to sell these products. The letter said: “It would assist independent retailers managing their businesses with a minimum level of staff in the store, if, in line with sales of tobacco and other age restricted
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products, staff members in the 16 to 17-year-old age range could continue to sell lottery products. “Staff in this age group provide an important part of the staffing of convenience stores at key times, including the weekend staff who are selling lottery tickets in the hours before the Saturday lottery draws.”
