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Sandpiper – the Channel Islands Retailer

Further proof of our retail credentials is the success of our own retail businesses in the Channel Islands.

As the largest food retailer in the islands with wholly-owned operations in Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney, our current portfolio consists of 5 supermarkets, 38 convenience stores and 7 petrol forecourts. We operate under a variety of fascia, each clearly targeted at a specific sector in the local marketplace.

We have invested into the infrastructure of the store estate and have further exciting plans to develop our business still further.  We’ve grown our business even in the most difficult economic climate for decades.

Checkers, our flagship brand, is enjoying a sustained period of growth due to substantial investment in new ranges, marketing and the recent complete refurbishment of our Checkers supermarkets at St Saviour and Red Houses in Jersey and Admiral Park in Guernsey which officially relaunched on 21st November.

At Checkers, we now offer our customers more choice than ever before at every price point. Last year, we introduced the premium food brand, Waitrose, to Jersey and Guernsey and now stock over 3,000 Waitrose lines from ambient and frozen through to an extensive offering of fresh and chilled foods including ready meals, fresh pasta and soups, cooked meats and sausages to indulgent desserts fit for a dinner party. A wide range of Iceland frozen lines provides choice at the value end.

Our fresh meat and produce ranges have been completely overhauled, a move that has been very well accepted not only by our customers but also by Shaun Rankin, locally-based Michelin-starred head chef of Bohemia restaurant, St Helier, who performed a cookery demonstration at our Checkers St Saviour supermarket recently specifically to showcase our new fresh meat range.  Customers at our Checkers Admiral Park store enjoyed sampling our fresh rib eye and pork loin steaks which we cooked on the premises, along with offerings from our latest seasonal produce and bakery lines.   On the non-food side, Sandpiper introduced Robert Dyas “shop in shop” in our 4 Checkers stores in Jersey & Guernsey, plugging the gap left by the demise of Woolworth’s.

Safeway, the “home of Megadeals”, has also enjoyed a revamp at our Jersey and our Guernsey stores, designed to make shopping easier and show the value to our shoppers through our “Megadeals” communication at point of sale and our regular leaflet.

Our Benest store in Jersey enjoys a particularly loyal following in its locality and this successful format has now being expanded into Guernsey at our St Peter’s store.  We also operate the largest off licence chain in the islands through our Wine Warehouse brand.