Prominent retailer in Peterborough says festive sales beat the national average

The Central England Co-operative says sales in its core convenience store business rose by 6.2 per cent for the three weeks to January 6 compared to the same period in 2016 - outperforming convenience store sales nationally by 2.1 per cent.

Central England Co-operative has 239 convenience stores across the region, including 12 in the Peterborough area, and employs 8,000 staff.

The Society says its like-for- like sales across the business, which includes funeral homes, travel shops, petrol stations and opticians, grew 2.4 per cent over Christmas and the New Year.

Details just released by the Society show its festive highlights included:

Christmas Eve generated the Society’s highest ever Sunday sales - more than £3 million.

14,000 turkeys were sold in the week leading up to Christmas - up two per cent on 2016.

250,000 tubs of chocolate were sold.

The Society's stores sold 150,000 packs of mince pies.

100,000 advent calendars were sold.

More than £350,000 worth of flowers and plants sold in the run up to the festive season.

The Society also supported the communities in and around its stores as part of its #beingcoopy campaign.

This included more thanr 60,000 items being donated by people into special Christmas Foodbanks, providing nearly 20,000 meals to those in need this winter.

Martyn Cheatle, chief executive, said: “Everyone involved with Central England Co-operative is proud of our Christmas and New Year strong sales figures.

"These results have come about due to a combination of the hard work and dedication of all of colleagues, an excellent range of quality products and the expert planning that went into ourstrategy for the festive period.

“We are also delighted by the amazing response to our #beingcoopy campaign and are so proud to be able to make a difference in our communities."