Castletown convenience store set to be taken on by another retailer
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A SHOP in Castletown, which was acquired by the Morrisons supermarket group last year, is set to be taken on by another retailer.
The Morrisons Daily shop on the Main Street in the village is expected to become a SPAR store. Morrisons acquired the premises in 2022 as part of a deal which involved over 1000 McColl's convenience stores throughout the country, including four in Caithness.
It is understood the Castletown shop will be closed shortly to allow equipment to be removed and replaced.
A spokeswoman for Morrisons said: "Unfortunately, the lease has ended on our Morrisons Daily store in Castletown and the store will close to the public on Friday, May 5."
The changeover was mentioned at last week's meeting of the Castletown and District Community Council.
Secretary, Liz Geddes, said the shop is expected to be taken on by SPAR but is due to be closed to allow the changeover work to take place although it is not known when that will happen.
Vice-chairman, Colin Hossack, said: "That is a surprise as Morrisons were only there for a few months."
Last year, Morrisons took over more than 1100 McColls stores and 16,000 staff throughout the UK, including the shops in Main Street, Castletown; Sinclair Street, Halkirk; Provost Sinclair Road, Thurso; and Mount Pleasant, also Thurso.
At the time, the company described the deal as "a good outcome" and said it offered "stability and continuity for the business."
SPAR is a Dutch multinational retail chain that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932 and has over 13,000 stores in more than 40 countries. Its headquarters are in Amsterdam.
The United Kingdom became a member of SPAR in 1956 when the company granted a group of independent wholesalers the licence. There are five regional partners in the UK with strategically placed distribution centres in each region.
