Forecourt retailer Circle K expanded into the high street last year when it acquired 10 stores in Dublin from the Griffin Group for an undisclosed sum.

The company, part of the multinational Cirlce K brand and a subsidiary of Canadian convenience retail group Couche-Tarde, took ownership of the stores, which previously traded as Londis, in early December and embarked on the process of rebranding and reorganising them in the new year.

The stores, mostly located in prime areas of the city centre, add to a network of more than 430 outlets, employing around 2,400 people nationwide, including 160 company-owned, company-operated (co-co) service stations and a large network of dealer-operated forecourts around the country.

Since acquiring the Denis O’Brien-owned Topaz, itself a mish-mash of former Statoil, Shell and Esso garages, in 2016, Circle K has invested €150m in its Irish operations.

Describing Circle K as “a retail business that sells fuel,” senior director of retail sales and operations Paul Dixon (pictured) said the Griffin Group acquisition “linked in with [its] strategy” of seeking outlets in high-traffic areas.

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“We looked at the current assortment of products, and we felt that the size of the books and the ranges that were on offer, that we could absolutely add value in terms of our own proposition,” Dixon said.

Circle K has some standalone stores in eastern Europe, Canada and Hong Kong, but the Griffin Group portfolio represents its largest such operation in Europe, and high street retail is something that Dixon says the group is “fully committed to.”

Some 200 staff, including shop managers, assistant managers, deli managers, and the managers of Londis’ Subway and Chopped concessions, have been retained, with Dixon believing their experience to be invaluable to the transition – some have been in their roles for 10-15 years.

Visitors to the city centre in recent weeks will have seen Circle K branding going up on the stores on Upper and Lower O'Connell Street, Westmoreland Street, College Green, Nassau Street and Grafton Street. Stores in Fonthill and two in Sandyford were also included in the deal.

The stores have also been reconfigured internally to follow the concept Circle K has rolled out across its service stations in Ireland and abroad, based on analysis and trends in the sector, and the group’s coffee and ice cream brands have also been introduced.

“I think it's generally been well received. We've made the look and feel of the shops, very similar to our new concept that we're rolling across service stations,” said Dixon, who spent time in Australia between two spells in various leadership roles at Marks & Spencer before joining Circle K in 2017.

“So we've been keen to make sure that when the customer walks in on the high street, it looks very similar to if they pulled into the service station on the motorway – same concepts and the same customer offering.”

The customer profile is slightly different to that of its forecourt stores – the city centre outlets are typically busiest on Tuesday while trading at service stations peaks over the weekend, and the average basket is larger in high street stores compared to established Circle K outlets.

Despite more intense competition in high street retail compared to motorways, the Subway and Chopped concessions will be “key” to Circle K, although Dixon said the group will try to adapt the franchises to the group’s specifications, within the limits of their franchise agreements.

After opening hours were curtailed during the pandemic, four of the 10 Griffin Group stores have also reopened on a 24/7 business with round-the-clock opening for Subway concessions too – a decision Dixon says has “gone down well with customers”.

The acquisition comes after a disruptive two years for Circle K, during which fuel sales were well down as cars largely stayed off the roads during the pandemic, with forecourts being repurposed for selling plants, garden products and antigen tests.

Stores in residential neighbourhoods “performed strongly,” and Dixon said they have continued to perform well as restrictions have been lifted, and even as fuel prices have risen sharply amid widespread inflation and disruption to energy markets stemming from the war in Ukraine.

“Our in store transactions have continued to grow as we have exited out of COVID and that trend has continued from when the restrictions are lessened and continue to grow in line previous pre-Covid years,” Dixon said.

“Our transactional performance and our basket size is still strong and in line with what we would have projected before the disruption.”

Circle K is continuing to roll-out innovations such as SafePay, facilitating payments without requiring staff to handle money, reducing the risk of cash theft, which was first installed in 74 service stations as part of a €2.5m deal with provider Premium Cash Solutions (PCS) last year and will be in all co-co stores by October.

The group has also experimented with the InTouch kiosks – large artificial intelligence touchscreens installed in stores that customers can use for self-service as well as providing feedback and signing up for fuel cards and the Play or Park loyalty programme.

They can also serve relevant advertising – such as adverts for cold drinks on hot days –reducing the need for staff to upsell customers – a particular speciality of former Topaz staff, according to Dixon.

InTouch is available in 25 Irish stores, and Dixon said Circle K “will continue to invest in initiatives that have been piloted like that that will further improve what we're doing.”

Looking towards the future, Dixon said Circle K wants to “continue to grow within Irish market” and will be “looking to do so across retail and fuel opportunities.”

“At the minute we are, we've just acquired these [stores] and we've just finalised the Circle K rebrand, and there's a whole host of teams working on other opportunities within the Irish market.”

Photo: Circle K senior director of retail sales and operations Paul Dixon.