It seems like they have always been there, on the street corner, open long hours and available whenever we need a pint of milk.

Corner shops and convenience stores have been serving our communities for decades, and now they are going from strength to strength.

Morrisons has just announced it wants to open 400 more of its Daily convenience stores. Earlier this year, Asda opened 110 smaller Express stores, and Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer, whilst not at that pace, also want to grow their convenience empires.

Meanwhile, the Co-operative Group has around 2,300 convenience stores. And they all remain behind the market leader Tesco, which in adding One Stop and Booker to its portfolio, has built a convenience chain of over 3,000 stores.

There are currently 49,388 convenience stores in the UK, employing 437,000 people, and generating sales of more than £47 billion. These convenience stores are broadly spread amongst urban, suburban and rural locations. Store numbers have risen by about 3,000 and jobs by 72,000 since 2018.

The Co-operative Group operate about 7% of all convenience stores. Multiple retailers such as Tesco, Morrisons and Asda run 23%. Independent retailers operating under a brand such as Spar, Londis, Premier, Costcutter and Day-Today comprise 31%. And independent convenience and corner shops trading using their own name make up 39% of store numbers. Tesco and the Co-operative Group have about half of the market sales between them.

Convenience stores have gained renewed importance for several reasons.

First,........

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