Sainsbury’s has announced a deal to acquire 10 leasehold stores from DIY retailer Homebase and convert them into supermarkets.

The agreement is part of the supermarket’s Next Level Plan to offer more customers more food choice.

The planned supermarkets are in locations which Sainsburys said will grow its coverage across England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. The supermarket estimates that almost 400,000 people will be within a ten-minute drive from a Sainsbury’s store following the acquisition.

Once converted, the shop floor area of the stores will range from around 15,000 to 40,000 square feet and will add a total of around 235,000 square feet to Sainsbury’s supermarket trading space.

The first three stores will open next summer and Sainsbury’s said that it aims to open the remaining stores by the end of 2025.

Sainsbury’s expects the cost of the acquisition to be around £130 million including the fit-out costs and acquisition premium. Sainsbury’s added that it expects to achieve strong returns on its investment.

The conversion of the sites is expected to create around 1,000 jobs at Sainsburys and the company said it will guarantee an interview for any Homebase employees who are at risk of redundancy as a result of the acquisition.

Simon Roberts, chief executive at J Sainsbury plc, said that the supermarket wanted to be "first choice" for food and the new stores would showcase Sainsbury’s best offerings to more customers around the country.

“We have the best combination of value and quality in the market and that’s winning us customers from all our key competitors and driving consistent growth in volume market share,” he added. “We want to build on this momentum which is why we are growing our supermarket footprint.”

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