Christmas sales up for Central England Co-op

The Lichfield-based society, which has more than 260 food stores across 16 counties, recorded growth for the key three festive trading weeks ending January 2.

Community-based convenience stores traded very strongly, with Central England Co-op also enjoying a bumper Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Areas that saw major rises in sales included the firm’s Irresistible range which was up 7.6 per cent, pink prosecco and its popular turkey meal deal.

The successful trading period allowed the co-operative to reinvest in vital community projects across its trading estate and support a range of important festive campaigns including creating more than 524,000 for FareShare Midlands as a result of a £131,000 donation based on a portion of sales from its Irresistible range and a near £15,000 donation to NHS Charities Together through sales of its festive flower range,

Customers donated more than 45,000 items via its Christmas Food Bank Appeal to help create 22,000 extra meals for families in need via over 65 different local food banks

Over 12,000 toys and gifts were handed to youngsters as part of the society’s annual Christmas Toybox Appeal

Debbie Robinson, chief executive at Central England Co-operative, said: Our focus this festive season was to provide our members, customers and communities with access to food, essentials and vital services in a safe and secure environment.

“The society’s strong performance during this time reflects the incredible efforts of all our teams across our Food businesses, our Funeral businesses and our support teams.

“Thank you to all of our colleagues for their outstanding contribution to the society throughout the whole of 2020, and to our members and customers for their continued support and loyalty.”

New Year’s Eve saw biggest jump in food sales (11 per cent) followed by Christmas Eve (4.7 per cent) and New Year’s Day (3.7 per cent).

Combined like-for-like sales, which included vehicle fuel, were up 5.2 per cent.