Stewarts

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Stewarts Supermarkets Ltd. was a group of supermarkets operating in Northern Ireland until their takeover by Tesco in 1997. Along with Wellworths, Stewarts/Crazy Prices was the main supermarket chain in Northern Ireland in 1997.

[edit] History

Stewarts and Crazy Prices, already owned by the same parent company, merged in Northern Ireland in the mid-1990s.

[edit] Tesco purchase

On 21 March 1997 Tesco agreed the purchase of the food retailing and related businesses of Associated British Foods in Ireland and Northern Ireland for £630 million. The acquisition was completed in May after regulatory approval was granted. The Northern Ireland businesses were 19 Stewarts, 9 Crazy Prices and six other (Westside Stores and Bloomfields), 78 Stewarts Wine Barrel off-licence stores, the sports goods retailer Lifestyle Sports & Leisure Ltd. (marketed as "Lifestyle Sports"), the meat processing and packing business Kingsway Fresh Foods Ltd. and the fresh fruit and vegetable distributor Daily Wrap Produce Ltd.

This was a major expansion of Tesco's presence in Northern Ireland, its only other presence in the province was a Tesco Metro in Belfast City Centre. Other Great Britain-based retailers had entered the Northern Irish market around the same time. Sainsbury's had opened two stores at Ballymena and Forestside by the time Tesco completed the Stewarts purchase and would open seven more between then and 2003. Safeway (UK) formed Safeway Stores (Ireland) along with Fitzwilton, taking over a number of former Wellworths stores.

The Republic of Ireland stores (Powers Supermarkets Ltd trading as Quinnsworth and Crazy Prices) became Tesco Ireland while the Northern Ireland stores became part of Tesco's core UK business.