James Hall & Co. Ltd., the SPAR Partner for the north of England, has announced the acquisition of North East Convenience Stores (NECS), a 30 store multi award winning family owned chain based in the North East of England. James Hall and Co. Ltd. is a Lancashire based family owned business, which was founded in Southport in 1863 and now serves over 600 stores in the North of England. The company was one of the founder members of SPAR within the UK.

The Vadhera brothers, Naveen and Sanjeev, have agreed to a sale of their 30 store group but are also pleased to announce that they will remain with NECS as Executive Management with NECS becoming a subsidiary of the James Hall Group of Companies.

Naveen Vadhera, Managing Director of NECS, said: “We are happy to have sold the business to James Hall & Co who completely understand the aspirations and ethos of NECS. We believe the synergies between the two companies will assist NECS as it continues to develop and grow over the next few years. Being fit for the future is the challenge for all retail groups at the moment and we believe that with the support and experience of the James Hall team and the strength of the SPAR brand, NECS will be at the forefront of convenience retailing in the years to come.”

Sanjeev Vadhera, Financial Director of NECS added: “Both Naveen and I are committed to convenience retailing and we look forward to seeing the NECS business thrive as part of the James Hall family under our continued management. We will be rebranding our convenience stores to SPAR over the coming weeks and have an identified pipeline of new stores to open later in the year. Although there is a change of ownership, it’s strictly business as usual at NECS.”

Andrew Hall, Managing Director of James Hall & Co. Ltd. commented: “We are delighted to have acquired such a successful and fast moving business and we welcome Naveen, Sanjeev and the 400 employees of NECS into the James Hall Group.”