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Kwik Save

Kwik Save is a British convenience store chain. Prior to 2007, it was also a discount supermarket chain that had shops across the United Kingdom. It went into administration in July 2007, but was brought back in April 2012. Its shops were small to medium-sized high street supermarkets, mainly located in areas with below average incomes.

It struggled to make profits during the 2000s, as supermarket operators such as Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury's introduced their own budget brands, and foreign competitors such as Lidl, Aldi and Netto (who all arrived in the United Kingdom during the first half of the 1990s) expanded.

The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It went into administration on 6 July 2007, and closed most of its shops across the United Kingdom, with the remaining 56 being sold to a new company, FreshXpress, which itself went into administration in March 2008.

It was then resurrected in a smaller form with nine shops, but this second incarnation of FreshXpress went into administration, and ceased trading in April 2009. All remaining shops have since been closed. The brand was relaunched as a budget fascia for convenience shops supplied by Costcutter in April 2012.

It was founded as Value Foods by Welsh entrepreneur Albert Gubay on 11 May 1959 and based in Prestatyn. The company rented its first retail shop in Queen Street, Rhyl, in July 1959. Further traditional shops were opened in Chester and Wrexham. In 1964, Gubay visited the United States with fellow director Ken Nicholson, and learnt about the "baby shark" method of retailing.

Combined with ideas gained from West German retailer Aldi, the business model was based on buying a limited range of lines on favourable (net 60 or 90 days) payment terms, distributing and selling them at or below cost before the payment fell due, and using the interest on the resulting cash flow to fund the business.

The first Kwik Save Discount branded shop opened in Colwyn Bay, produced more sales than the existing supermarkets of Value Foods, and by 1967, Kwik Save Discount had thirteen shops.

Just before it was floated on to the London Stock Exchange in November 1970, the company changed its name to Kwik Save Discount Group Ltd. In 1973, Gubay sold Kwik Save for $28 million. Gubay repeated the low price retail model using the 3 Guys brand in New Zealand, Ireland and the United States.

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