‘We have seen it all’: Community SPAR retailer marks 80 years

An independent retailer with 22 SPAR stores across across the north west is celebrating 80 years in business.

Lawrence Hunt & Co opened its first store in Walmer Bridge in 1946. Today its empire stretches from Blackpool to Burscough, Carnforth to Coppull, and Lancaster to Leyland, employing 500 staff and turning over about £43m last year.

“My grandfather Jack opened his first store with the idea of supporting the community, supplied by the local farms of West Lancashire," says Kevin Hunt, third generation managing director. "The business has changed a lot since then, but our ethos of being there for the community has not.”

Lawrence Hunt & Co was the first independent retailer in northern England to join the SPAR family in 1956 through wholesaler James Hall & Co when the SPAR name arrived in the UK market from the Netherlands. Hunts and SPAR have enjoyed shared anniversaries since, and as Hunts celebrates 80 years, SPAR in the UK is marking its 70th anniversary.

Kevin says: “It is a proud feeling to be leading a family business celebrating 80 years, and milestone years offer the opportunity to reflect on where you have come from and where you are heading. We marked our 70th anniversary in 2016, but 75 years timed with the pandemic and we could not really mark the occasion properly.

“Unfortunately, our 80th year began with the sad, sudden death of a dear colleague in Tony Miller. He was a lovely, genuine man whose positive impact on our family business was significant. Tony would have wanted us to continue and mark the 80th anniversary, so we are doing it with him in our thoughts.”

Kevin has experienced the rollercoaster that is the world of convenience retail and has lived through the many changes that have occurred as the retail landscape has evolved.

He said: “Our Walmer Bridge store was followed by Longton in 1958 and the rest is history. We have seen it all over the years. At one time in Walmer Bridge, every third property was a store. You would have a tobacconist, a baker, a butcher, and three different newsagents.

“I expect for customers, it can feel a bit like that today. The convenience market is saturated by a choice of different stores. It is the same for us as retailers competing for sales with all the fascias on the street, plus vaping shops that may sell convenience products on the side.

“We had a fight for survival in the 1970s when we could not financially compete with the large format supermarkets which were a new concept. You could buy your food and drink alongside clothes and homeware. There was a huge amount of space, and they had massive car parks.

“Boom time came in the 1980s when we fought back as one of the leading retailers pioneering SPAR’s famous Eight Till Late slogan. Legislation changed in the UK meaning we could open later in the evenings and on Sundays, and it was the gateway to transforming our business.”

Looking to the future, Kevin is embracing the latest era of change brought on by shifting customer habits and digitisation. While not keen to get off the rollercoaster just yet, the process of handing over the baton to son Jack to take the business forward has begun.

Kevin said: “It is challenging now, but I am excited about the future. Jack is 33 and is full of enthusiasm to modernise our offer and to continue doing what we have always done which is deliver an excellent convenience range for customers and serve our communities well.

“Convenience retail is very cyclical. We have been through periods where we have taken butchers and deli counters out, and now we are putting them back in. Customers increasingly use our stores for food 'to go' so that must be our future direction.

“AI and digitisation are changing things, but we want the best of both worlds. We understand the need for self checkouts in some of our stores. But people will continue to play a role in serving customers as we know people shop with us like to be served by a human so they can discuss the weather or how their children are doing at school.”