Andrew Thornton of Thornton Budgens in Belsize Park has announced that he has sold the store to the Kavanagh Group, which owns 11 SuperValu stores in Ireland and a number the UK. The company is operated by Noel Kavanagh Snr as Chairman and Noel Jnr the Managing Director.
“It’s been an extraordinary 15 years and I feel deeply grateful for the people I have met and the experiences we have shared,” said Thornton. “And at how much of a difference we made, especially when you consider we are just one little store in North London!”
He was fulsome in his praise for staff, saying, “The team at Thornton’s Budgens – what an amazing bunch of people you are! Over this last 14 years, we have gone on an amazing journey together. I know that the day we launched our Plastic Free zones will always be one of the proudest days of my life – it was a huge team effort that really demonstrated to me the effectiveness of the ‘heart’ way of working that we have developed together.”
Plastic-free pioneer Thornton added that “it is time for me to move onto the next chapter of my life and to give the store and the team the chance to keep developing.”
Kavanagh Group Managing Director, Noel Kavanagh Jnr commented: “This is a very exciting acquisition for the Kavanagh group. A superb location in North London and a truly unique store. Under Andrew’s guidance, Budgens Belsize Park has been a market leader in sustainability and food innovation, introducing many new concepts such as the hugely successful Sushi bar. To further enhance the offering and customer experience, we are planning to invest in excess of a million pounds in early 2022.”
The sale will complete on June 9, and the store will continue to trade as Thornton’s Budgens in the short term, and will then be re-branded as Kavanagh’s Budgens later in the year.
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