Appleby Westward, the South West Spar distributor, is more than 50% ahead of its store recruitment target for 2016 after breaking the 300 mark.

It has recruited 37 new stores so far in 2016, following last year’s record-breaking recruitment result in which 50 new stores joined the Spar wholesalers - 26 of which were Euro Garage forecourt sites. 

Appleby’s head of store recruitment David Slade said: “The introduction of 87 new West Country stores into Spar over the last two years is the best recruitment result the company has achieved for a very long time.

“Retailers have had to face considerable challenges in the convenience market and, as the market-leading award-winning symbol group, we are able to show them that Spar has the right solution to help them meet those challenges.

“We have the ability to be flexible and construct bespoke offers for individual retailers in the convenience sector as well as a co-investment package to help develop stores to the highest standards, and we look forward to working with our new recruits to enhance and develop their businesses within Spar during 2017.”

Appleby Westward has set aside £2m for co-investment development projects with Spar retailers in the region for 2017 and is targeting to bring in 24 new stores during the year.