Budgens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Budgens is a chain of foodstores in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1872 by John Budgen, who opened the first store at Maidenhead. Budgens supermarket chain operates over 227 stores and employs over 6,000 staff.
The stores range in size from around 1,500 square feet (140 m²) to around 10,000 square feet (900 m²), and therefore fall into the convenience store size range and the bottom end of the supermarket size range, as these two terms are used in the United Kingdom. According to retail analysts TNS Superpanel, Budgens ranked 13th in the United Kingdom grocery sector as of December 2004, with a market share of 0.4% .
In 2002 the company was purchased by the Irish Musgrave Group.
In 2004 the Musgrave Group decided to sell their Budgens stores to independent retailers, like Tout, and franchise the Budgens brand, leading to more store openings. In 2006 Budgens was voted number one convenience retailer of the year.
Major chains: ASDA • Marks & Spencer • Morrisons • Sainsbury's • Somerfield • Tesco • Waitrose
Convenience stores: Budgens • Co-op • Costcutter • Londis • SPAR
