Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has expressed an interest in taking over several of the 250 stores that fashion group Arcadia is planning to offload over the next three years.
Arcadia boss Sir Philip Green announced last week that it would be exiting the stores as leases come up for expiry between now and 2014. Arcadia owns the TopShop, Bhs and Dorothy Perkins brands, among others.
Sainsbury’s has ambitious plans to expand its convenience chain, Sainsbury’s Local. It wants to open as many as two stores per week to add to its 428-strong portfolio.
Property director Neil Sachdev said the level of interest would depend on where the Arcadia stores were. He said: “We have a big need to open a lot of Local stores in the high street and a lot of Arcadia’s are on the high street. If there happens to be access space, then if [Arcadia] contacted us we would be delighted to look at them.”
Sachdev added that Sainsbury’s was still in the market to buy any of the 750 Iceland stores that could come up for sale. The supermarket was first linked to Iceland in April.
noella.pio.kivlehan@estatesgazette.com
