Jobs are likely to have been saved at a Congleton convenience store.

McColl's, which is open from 11-13 hours per day in Unit 10 of the West Heath Retail Park, was announced to be under threat on Friday.

This was as their parent company was at risk of collapse.

But now the store likely become a Morrisons Daily, as supermarket chain Morrisons are set to buy out McColl's Retail Group - rescuing the convenience store from administration.

The chain, founded in 1901, is just under £170 million in debt. McColl's employs around 16,000 staff, with roughly 6,000 full-time, and about 15 staff in Congleton.

Over the weekend, the EG Group (Asda) were the favourite to clinch McColl's. with Morrisons' initial bid failing to come to fruition.

Morrisons Daily has recently taken over McColls at West Heath Retail Park. The future of the Post Office inside the store remains unknown. (Image - Alexander Greensmith / Congleton Nub News)

But Morrisons and the billionaire Issa brothers of the EG Group filed final offers for the business chain on Sunday (May 8).

Today (May 9), Morrisons look to have beaten Asda to the purchase of the failing convenience store chain.

Morrisons are willing to repay McColl's banks around £170m, as well as agreeing to take on responsibility for the company's pension scheme with over 2,000 members.

These are the key reasons for Morrisons' successful bid.

The West Heath store will likely become Congleton's second Morrisons Daily, like this one in Buglawton (pictured). (Image - Alexander Greensmith / Congleton Nub News)

Morrisons is already a key wholesale supplier for McColl's. So if the West Heath McColls becomes a Morrisons Daily, the shop will still feel familiar to Congleton.

It will become Congleton's third Morrisons-related store, and Congleton's second Morrisons Daily, already having a Morrisons convenience store on St. John's Road in Buglawton.

Over recent years, 200 McColl's stores have converted to Morrison's Daily.

There is a target from Morrisons' to make this 450 by November 2022. 

Some Congleton Nub News readers said on social media that they 'struggled to get a parking space' to be able to use the McColl's / Post Office store. (Image - Alexander Greensmith / Congleton Nub News)

There is still the possibility that the new owners may feel the need to scrap the McColl's West Heath store. A fear which makes more sense when many Congleton Nub News readers said on Facebook that "they only used the McColl's store for the Post Office."

McColl's currently runs 1,100 stores across England Scotland and Wales.

The convenience store sector faired relatively well as a whole during the COVID-19 pandemic. But McColl's was an outlier in this.

People shopped closer to home and ordered shopping online, but McColl's ran into difficulties during this period as it attempted to update the range of food it sold. And of course, the aforementioned Post Office at the West Heath store was also shut during lockdowns.

McColl's modernising process was made harder by Covid-related supply chain problems. But Morrisons purchase should help get things back up to speed.

Morrisons is set to be buying McColl's as a pre-pack administration. Morrisons' purchase will be confirmed once McColls enter insolvency proceedings.

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