Central England Co-operative saw its sales soar over Christmas

The Central England Co-operative says it enjoyed a strong sales performance over the festive period.

The Society, which has 430 trading outlets, saw like-for-like sales of £46.3 million for the three weeks ending December 31.

This was up 4.6 per cent on the previous Christmas.

And like-for-like sales in its convenience stores increased by 6.2 per cent.

Food stores handled more than 1.9 million customer transactions during Christmas, which included the Society’s highest ever daily sales of £3.8 million on Christmas Eve.

The Christmas period saw particularly strong performance across in-store bakery and the Society’s range of beers, wines and spirits.

Other high performing categories included new seasonal product lines, including the new Co-op ‘Irresistible’ premium range, as well as floral gifts.

Martyn Cheatle, chief executive at Central England Co-operative, said: “We are proud of our strong sales figures during the Christmas and New Year period.

“This growth shines a light on the excellent range of quality products we had on offer in our stores, the expert planning that went into our festive strategy and the hard work, dedication and commitment by all of our colleagues.

“I would like to thank all colleagues, customers and members for their support during this very busy period.”