French Oil company Elf is launching Le Shop, a chain of food stores on Britain’s high streets. It might also close petrol stations and turn them into shops. Elf Oil UK, which has 650 petrol stations, will test consumer reaction to five town centre outlets trading under the Le Shop banner. The company is prepared to commit “significant” investment to a chain of Le Shop outlets, principally located in the south and south east of England. Elf also plans to have 50 Le Shops on petrol forecourts and it has invited Somerfield, the supermarket chain, to operate shops on some of them.
The move is a direct response to the cut-throat price war on petrol station forecourts. A report from the Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee, last week, forecast there could be just over 9,000 petrol stations in the UK by the year 2000 compared with more than 16,000 now.
- The Times 29/7/96 page 42
