Press Releases

A report released today by Mary Portas three years on from her review of the high street has acknowledged the importance of convenience stores as driver of high street growth and the progressive work of the Future High Street Forum.

Commenting the change in consumer spending and move to convenience shopping Portas said “Since the economic downturn, careful consumers now prefer to buy little and often and do so in the shop around the corner rather than out of town sup

Scottish Government has approved plans to introduce a mandatory 5p charge for almost all disposable carrier bags. The regulation will be introduced in Scotland from 20 October this year, after the Scottish Government yesterday approved plans to implement the levy. Currently around 750 million carrier bags are used in Scotland each year. The draft guidance for the regulations is available here.

Companies and Associations representing independent retailers from across the EU have come together in London today to discuss common challenges and opportunities in convenience retailing.

The Conference, which is the annual meeting of Independent Retail Europe, is being hosted by ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores).

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has warned that local shops would be threatened by Labour’s plans to link the National Minimum Wage to average earnings.

ACS Chief Executive, James Lowman, said: “We support the National Minimum Wage and the protection it provides to workers, but forcing large annual hikes in the minimum wage rate, in the way that the Labour Party proposals suggest, will threaten investment and prevent local shops from creating jobs.

ACS has welcomed proposals from energy regulator Ofgem to stop the mis-selling of energy products by third party intermediaries to small businesses.

In its submission to Ofgem’s consultation on the regulation of third party intermediaries, ACS has welcomed plans to introduce a robust code of practice for TPIs and brokers which is supported by a licence condition on suppliers to only work with TPIs who are accredited to the code.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales has revealed that there were over 313,000 incidents of shop theft in 2012-2013.

The figures, released this week by the Office of National Statistics show that in the 12 months to September 2013, there was a 4% increase in the level of shop theft. The number of incidents is the highest since 2008, despite the overall levels of crime in the survey falling by 15% over the last year.

Convenience retailers across England and Wales will be able to have a new confidence about the way to prevent underage sales, thanks to a new ‘Assured Advice’ guide from ACS.

The ACS (Association of Convenience Stores) ‘Assured Advice’ Guide to Preventing Underage Sales provides an easy to follow product-by-product guide, establishing a simple, common approach to adopting the right company policy, training and effective record keeping.

ACS has called on Ofgem to introduce an outright ban on automatic rollover contracts to stop suppliers taking advantage of their small business customers.

ACS has today responded to the Government’s consultation on locally set licence fees, calling for an urgent rethink of the proposals which would allow Councils to set their own fees.

The consultation proposes options including:

• allowing local authorities to set their own fees
• changing the balance of revenue received by local authorities by:

increasing fees for processing new licences or changing existing licences; and

ACS has welcomed the Sentencing Council’s Consultation on sentencing for Shop Theft offences and the retention of short custodial sentences.

ACS Chief Executive James Lowman, said: “Shop theft is one of the biggest operational challenges local shops face, with 70% of retailers having experienced shop theft in the last year. This is not a victimless crime, it has very serious implications for shop staff and a cumulative cost impact on the business.