Wilkinson comes top in a study by The Grocer

High street shops are shutting like never before, with smaller independently-owned stores particularly vulnerable.

But one group of independent retailers is bucking the trend. Cut-price shops are booming as cash-strapped families seek out bargains during the economic downturn, a report shows.

They dominate a league table of the top 50 independent grocery retailers.

Six of the top ten are cut-price stores and they are responsible for half of all turnover in the top 50, and two-thirds of all profits, according to the research published by The Grocer magazine.

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Wilkinson tops the table and the other discounters in the top ten are Pound Stretcher, 99p Stores, TJ Morris (trading as Home Bargains), B&M Retail and Farmfoods.

The annual rankings list the 50 biggest grocery retailers that are more than 50 per cent owned by management or family.

Their growth mirrors the rise of the big cut-price supermarket chains such as Aldi and Lidl.

The boom is the precise opposite of the crisis facing the rest of the high-street – which is struggling to cope with the country’s fragile economy.

TOP OF THE SHOPS: THE LEADING 10 RETAILERS
1 Wilkinson
2 Martin McColl
3 TJ Morris
4 B&M Retail
5 Farmfoods
6 Blakemore Retail
7 Poundstretcher
8 Euro Garages
9 Booths
10 99p Stores

In the worst-hit parts of Britain, more than one in five shops is boarded up, according to a recent report from the Local Data Company.

Overall, around one in ten town and city centre shops across the UK are currently vacant, according to the latest figures.

Spending is growing more slowly than inflation, meaning people are cutting back on purchases, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported last week.

The Prime Minister has hired Mary Portas as his High Streets’ tsar to try to rescue the country’s blighted town centres.

The ‘Queen of Shops’ this week set out a bold vision for the future of the high street, but it is not yet clear how the government will implement her proposals.

The trade magazine’s annual rankings list the 50 biggest British grocery retailers that are more than 50per cent owned by management or family.

Source : Hannah Roberts – Daily Mail
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