News

This has been a big week for ACS, launching our crime report, which has attracted lots of interest from within the trade and in wider public debate including: The Times, The Telegraph, Daily Star and 

ACS has launched a new animation to help retailers and their staff manage and prevent violence and abuse in stores.

The 2018 ACS Crime Report estimates that there have been over 13,000 incidents of violence in store over the last year, with theft seen as the most common trigger of abuse in stores. There have also been an estimated 9,000 robberies in the sector in the last year.

The Association of Convenience Stores’ 2018 Crime Report has revealed a significant rise in the number of shop thefts committed against retailers over the last year, with shop theft increasingly being linked to aggressive behaviour towards retailers and their staff.

The winner of Best Fresh Produce Retailer at the Convenience Retail Awards was announced on Thursday night as McBride Retail Group’s SPAR Mullaghmore store.

ACS is working with the Food Foundation as part of the Peas Please campaign to raise the profile of veg and other fresh produce in stores. ACS and Peas Please are sponsoring awards at the Convenience Retail Awards, HIM Awards and Retail Industry Awards throughout the year to promote best practice in selling fresh produce.

We are just over a month away from ACS Summit18, the unmissable and leading industry event for the convenience sector. This year’s conference will take place at The Vox, Resorts World, Birmingham on the 17^th of April.

ACS’ Summit is the annual premier convenience store event, bringing together hundreds of retailers, suppliers and industry experts from around the globe in a debate about the future of the convenience store industry in the UK. 

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has responded to the Chancellor’s Spring Statement, welcoming measures to bring forward more frequent business rates revaluations to 2021, with revaluations every three years thereafter and confirms that the Valuation Office Agency will continue to value premises instead of self assessment.

The Chancellor had previously announced that business rates revaluations would become more frequent in his 2017 Autumn Budget, but this was scheduled to take place from 2022. Today’s announcement brings those plans forward by 12 months.

The 2018 Crime Seminar will feature a first look at the 2018 Crime Report, detailing the impact of crime on the convenience sector from shop theft and fraud to abuse, violent incidents and burglaries.

The Seminar will also see the launch of new guidance which has been designed to help staff in stores mitigate the impact of crime.  

The charity Crimestoppers and The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) are today offering a reward of up to £5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the people responsible for the aggravated robbery of a Hampshire service station.

The incident happened on February 17^th at around 4.25am at the Esso garage at Stoney Cross on the westbound carriageway of the A31, which saw one of two staff members working that morning assaulted with a crowbar. The victim was treated for a head injury at Royal Bournemouth Hospital.

The Supporting Entrepreneurship Inquiry held its second evidence session in the National Assembly for Wales on 7th March, taking evidence directly from a range of Welsh Entrepreneurs and business organisations.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has launched a new Retail Sector Council to address challenges faced by the retail industry. The group, made up of senior leaders from the industry, will be co-chaired by retail minister Andrew Griffiths MP and Richard Pennycook, chair of Fenwick and the British Retail Consortium, and former CEO at the Co-op.