Didn’t Widnes cause enough of a hoo-ha? But even that didn’t stop the Competition and Markets Authority. When the Co-op bought eight Mylocal convenience stores out of administration in 2016, the CMA’s isochrone experts could hardly wait. They spotted that the Co-op’s rescue deal involved bulking up in Widnes: an extra store, no less, on top of its existing three vaguely located in the Cheshire town. A seven-month inquiry and a deal that would have been blocked but for the happiest of “remedies”: the Co-op could keep its new Widnes store, but only if it sold two of its existing three.

Source: The Times April 30, 2018 22:52 UTC