Costcutter is a business based in the United Kingdom primarily operating as a symbol group supplier to various independently ownedconvenience shops and off-licences. It has operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Poland. It encompasses both supermarkets and convenience shops. As of December 2006, Costcutter was owned by James A. Barry and Co. Costcutter was founded in 1986, by Colin Graves. As of November 2006, there were some 1,400 shops under the banner. In May 2006, the majority of shops were in the United Kingdom, with 65 shops in Ireland and 52 in Poland. Many locations in the United Kingdom were formerly locations of Spar, whose owners switched to Costcutter because of cheaper fees. Spar is still a major competitor, and has 2,535 shops in the United Kingdom, 422 shops in Ireland, fifty shops in Poland and 13,686 overall locations worldwide in thirty two countries, including locations as far afield as Australia, South Africa, Morocco, Japan and China. A proposed merger with Nisa-Today's collapsed in November 2006, after concerns about a cartel. which were reported to the Office of Fair Trading by members of Nisa-Today's, who opposed the merger. These claims were eventually proved to be unfounded and no action was taken by the OFT. Up until April 2011, Bibby Distribution was the logistical provider for Nisa-Today's and therefore also Costcutter. From April 2011, the contract was won by DHL, who now deliver to Costcutter and Nisa shops using a new fleet of NISA branded lorries. They also broadcast a radio station for use in their shops called Costcutter In Tune Radio. In 2014, Costcutter opened eighteen shops in Jersey, Channel Islands, taking over all outlets which were owned by SPAR. As of , the Costcutter fascia is still present, but will have disappeared completely by the end of the year. Thirteen shops merged with local retailer SandpiperCI, and are being converted one by one to their FoodHall and Checkers Xpress fascias, the first of which opened in July, and the rest are currently now being converted one by one into either shops of Food Halls or Checkers Xpress, like the rest of the Sandpiper non franchised shops. Three shops did not merge with SandpiperCI, due to their proximity to other shops of SandpiperCI. Since the merger, the store in St Ouen initially closed, but then re opened as the third Alliance with Tesco store on the island, and the remaining two shops in St John and Green Island are now trading asyourstore, initially a chain of two stores, but now a chain of five stores. In 2018, The Co-Op Group made an offer of £15M in an attempt to take ownership of Costcutter. The bid was rejected, but it was believed that the door was left open for further talks. In 2020, Costcutter built 20 pop-up stores in NHS hospitals, designed to help serve doctors and nurses who may have been unable to travel due to the Coronavirus.
