It seems like such a long time ago now, but it was only a matter of a few months ago that Icesave collapsed which plunged many UK savers’ funds into chaos.  Speaking to friends in Reykjavik at the time, they had a collective bleak view of their nation’s economy and were understandably concerned. Therefore it caught my eye flicking through the paper a few days ago when I saw a headline worded something along the lines of “Iceland to the retail crisis rescue”. Hmm, interesting, I thought. Thus I took the time to have a read of this and see what had happened.

Now this you could easily put down to stupidity on my part. However, as someone who neither purchases nor consumes meat products I have not felt the need to enter an Iceland frozen food store for some time! Indeed it was not the country that had made the headline in this instance but the retailer, who announced that they had purchased 51 former Woolworths stores creating somewhere in the region of 2,500 jobs.  As a keen media watcher I can remember the pre-Christmas scare stories of Woolworths demise and the job losses that would arise from it, but isn’t it funny that articles regarding this and other possible acquisitions were kept quiet until now when surely they were already in pending and certainly speculative?

So what of other acquisitions? I have also read keenly that the Co-op group have won approval to take over Somerfield, although in the process have been forced to sell 13 of their own stores, with Waitrose waiting in the wings heading the queue to add these to the 9 others they intend to also open in 2009. The articles reporting on these give approximate figures of between 5-6000 new jobs being created in addition to the thousands who will keep their jobs but simply change uniform.

I will watch this with interest, particularly if the Somerfield brand ceases to be. The shopping arcade by where I grew up is dominated by 2 supermarkets on either side, one Co-op and one Somerfield! Competition has been fierce between the two over the decade or so I lived there and even before when Somerfield was Gateway. Now will there be 2 Co-ops instead?

And it doesn’t stop there either. Waitrose are not the only supermarket chain announcing expansion plans. Sainsbury & Tesco will create around 15,000 new jobs between them this year as they too open new stores and no doubt in recognition of the paradigm shift that has seen many people providing the “less reputed” chains with their patronage recently.

And it’s nice to read isn’t it? We’re in the times of doom & gloom are we not? Personally it makes perfect sense. I’ve long been an advocator of the theory that in times of recession and economic difficulty, recession proof industries continue to flourish if investment is achieved. It’s fair to say that there is a degree of recession proofing when one considers the food retail giants in that we must eat! We must buy food!  Therefore these businesses investing in their futures now should not come as any surprise, and as the economy begins to recover it will be these who prosper further.