- Stewarts
Stewarts Supermarkets Ltd. was a group of
supermarkets operating inNorthern Ireland until their takeover byTesco in 1997. Along withWellworths , Stewarts/Crazy Prices was the main supermarket chain in Northern Ireland in 1997. At its height, just before the Tesco takeover, it was the fifth biggest employer in Northern Ireland. [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/ni/employ.htm]History
Stewarts and
Crazy Prices , already owned by the same parent company, merged in Northern Ireland in the mid-1990s.The company slogans were 'No-one delivers value like Stewarts' and 'No-one delivers freshness like Stewarts'. A television advertising campaign in the late 1980s included a cover version of the song Locomotion with these slogans replacing 'Come on baby, do the Locomotion'. (The song was then popular because of
Kylie Minogue 's successful 1988 cover). Crazy Prices' long-time advertising theme was alternate lyrics set to the tuneTiger Feet by Mud.Tesco purchase
On
21 March 1997 ,Tesco agreed the purchase of the food retailing and related businesses ofAssociated British Foods in Ireland and Northern Ireland for £630 million. The acquisition was completed in May after regulatory approval was granted. The Northern Ireland businesses were 19 Stewarts, 9 Crazy Prices and six other (Westside Stores and Bloomfields), 78 Stewarts Wine Barrel off-licence stores, the sports goods retailer Lifestyle Sports & Leisure Ltd. (marketed as "Lifestyle Sports"), the meat processing and packing business Kingsway Fresh Foods Ltd. and the fresh fruit and vegetable distributor Daily Wrap Produce Ltd.This was a major expansion of Tesco's presence in Northern Ireland, its only other presence in the province was a Tesco Metro in Belfast City Centre. Other Great Britain-based retailers had entered the Northern Irish market around the same time.
Sainsbury's had opened two stores atBallymena andForestside by the time Tesco completed the Stewarts purchase and would open seven more between then and 2003.Safeway (UK) formedSafeway Stores (Ireland) along withFitzwilton , taking over a number of formerWellworths stores.The Republic of Ireland stores (Powers Supermarkets Ltd trading as
Quinnsworth and Crazy Prices) becameTesco Ireland while the Northern Ireland stores became part of Tesco's core UK business.
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