Circle K acquires 10 high street stores from Griffin Group

Circle K, Ireland’s leading forecourt and convenience retailer, is set to acquire 10 Griffin Group convenience stores in Dublin, the majority in coveted city centre locations .

The stores in question are currently operating as Griffin’s convenience stores with renowned food brands Subway and CHOPPED also operating from these locations.

Griffin Group has been operating in Ireland for over 30 years and has 15 stores nationwide.

The locations of the stores set to be acquired by Circle K are Upper O’Connell Street, Lower O’Connell Street, Westmoreland Street, College Green, Nassau Street, Grafton Street, Fonthill, Parkwest and Sandyford with the outlets in Sandyford consisting of one convenience store and a coffee shop.

The acquisition is subject to approval from the CCPC.

This marks Circle K’s first move onto the high street in Ireland and also represents its first multi-site acquisition of standalone stores in Europe.

Managing director Gordon Lawlor said: “We are delighted to make this announcement and I would like to formally welcome our new colleagues from the Griffin Group as well as our new partners Subway and CHOPPED to the Circle K family.

‘Strong expertise’

“The Griffin Group has an established reputation in convenience retailing in high profile locations with strong expertise in food, and excellent partners all of which greatly complements our network of forecourt locations and will be a tremendous addition to our business. We are particularly excited at the opportunities this presents for our food business across our network in terms of innovation, shared learnings and new offerings for our customers, and are looking forward to collaborating with our new colleagues and partners.

“Circle K has been at the forefront of convenience retail not just here in Ireland but globally for many years and we have continuously developed our offering across food, coffee and other convenience items to meet the evolving needs of our customers who are now increasingly focused on ease, consistency and quality of service.

“We see great potential for our offering on the high street and huge benefits for our customers and are really excited to introduce the Circle K brand to these locations. We will continue looking at opportunities to expand our footprint in Ireland within our forecourt network, as well as any further opportunities we see in high footfall areas.”

A total of 200 staff are currently employed at the locations in question all of whom will now become employees of Circle K and will continue working at the 10 stores. This brings Circle K’s total number of employees in Ireland to just under 2,400 while its overall store footprint has increased to 430 nationwide.