Wellworths
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wellworths (FA Wellworth & Co. Ltd.) was a supermarket trading in Northern Ireland until 1996. Along with Stewarts/Crazy Prices it was one of the two main supermarkets in Northern Ireland until English-based retaillers moved into the marketplace - the latter being acquired by Tesco while Sainsbury's built a number of new stores.
Wellworths was broken in two pieces. Smaller stores were wholly acquired by the Musgrave Group in 1996 and traded as Wellworths-Supervalu for a time. The Wellworths name was eventually dropped and smaller these stores now trade as 'Supervalu', as part of an all-Ireland chain.
Larger Wellworths stores were acquired by Safeway Stores (Ireland), a joint venture between the Fitzwilton Group and Safeway (UK). They operated from 1996 to 2005 under the Safeway name.
In March 2004, Safeway Stores (Ireland) was acquired by Morrisons when Morrisons bought Safeway (UK). The Northern Ireland stores were not part of Morrisons' long-term strategy and unlike their GB counterparts never traded under the Morrison name. Despite continuing to trade as Safeway though, own-brand products and carrier bags were supplied by Morrisons. Safeway Stores (Ireland) was acquired by ASDA in 2005 and now operates under the ASDA name.