SandpiperCI is a retail and

food and beverage The foodservice (US English) or catering (British and Commonwealth English) industry includes the businesses, institutions, and companies which prepare meals outside the home. It includes restaurants, grocery stores, school and hospital cafeter ...

operator based in the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

. It mostly operates franchises of British

chain stores A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate many retail markets, dining markets, and service categories in many pa ...

, such as

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

Costa Coffee Costa Limited, trading as Costa Coffee, is a coffeehouse chain with headquarters in Loudwater, Buckinghamshire, England, that operates in the United Kingdom and 37 other countries. Costa Coffee was founded in London in 1971 by Sergio Costa (co ...

Burger King Burger King Corporation (BK, stylized in all caps) is an American multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacks ...

and

Matalan Matalan Retail Ltd is a British clothing and homewares retailer based in Knowsley, Merseyside, founded by John Hargreaves in 1985. In August 1988, its operations director at the time, Duncan Sullivan, transformed Matalan into an out-of-town wa ...

, in British Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories. It also operates an

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

retailer called iQ. SandpiperCI was formed on 27 June 2007, after its predecessor CI Traders was sold to a private equity consortium comprising

Duke Street Capital Duke Street Capital is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in middle-market companies in Western Europe, particularly the UK and France. Duke Street invests across four sectors: consumer, healthcare, ...

and Europa Capital for £260 million. CI Traders was formed in 2002 out of a merger between Le Riches Stores and the Ann Street Group. In 2016, the company ownership reverted to a Channel Islands consortium.

Current operations

SandpiperCI consists of wholly owned operations trading as Checkers Xpress, Wine Warehouse, Le Cocq's Stores, Richards Newsagents & Post Office, The Gibraltar Bakery, and Liberty Wharf. Plus a number of other franchises:

Morrisons Daily Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited, trading as Morrisons, is the List of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom, fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Sco ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

Hotel Chocolat Hotel Chocolat Group is a British chocolate manufacturer and cocoa grower. It produces and distributes chocolate and other cocoa related products online and through a network of cafés, restaurants, outlets and factory stores. By 2023, it ha ...

, Crew Clothing,

Card Factory Card Factory plc is a retailer of greeting cards and gifts in the United Kingdom founded in Wakefield by Dean Hoyle and his wife Janet. The first store opened in 1997, and by 2020 the company had over 1,000 stores. The company also operate ...

, iQ (an

reseller),

, and

Burger King

In January 2016, SandpiperCI announced a deal with

to operate restaurants in the Channel Islands. The 60-seater restaurant at 41 The Parade,

St Helier St Helier (; Jèrriais: ; ) is the Capital city, capital of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. It is the most populous of the twelve parishes of Jersey, with a population of 35,822, over one-third of the island' ...

. This outlet was closed quietly at the beginning of 2025.

Card Factory

In 2019, SandpiperCI opened up three Card Factory stores in Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man.

Checkers and Checkers Xpress

Checkers was a small supermarket chain in the Channel Islands, which was operated by SandpiperCI. It was sold in 2011 to

Waitrose Waitrose Limited, trading as Waitrose & Partners, is a British supermarket chain, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. In 1937, it was acquired by the John Lewis Partnership, the UK's largest employee-owned b ...

. In 2017, SandpiperCI acquired the

Costcutter Costcutter is a convenience shop symbol group operating as two separate entities with different ownerships in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It previously had stores in Poland. The shops are independently owned and join the gro ...

stores which were then converted into Food Halls and Checkers Xpress. Checkers Xpress is SandpiperCI's wholly-owned convenience and forecourt retailer with seven stores at key locations in both Jersey and Guernsey. These stores transferred into a separate company prior to being purchased by Morrisons to be converted to Morrisons Daily outlets during 2025.

Costa Coffee

SandpiperCI opened their first

in Jersey in 2008. The division operated a total of nine stores across Jersey, Guernsey and Gibraltar but the remaining 4 outlets were sold to a U.K. company at the start of 2025.

Crew Clothing

In January 2013, SandpiperCI acquired and opened Crew Clothing in St Helier, Jersey, followed by a 2nd store in Guernsey.

Hotel Chocolat

SandpiperCI acquired and opened

in 2011. They now operate 3 stores across Jersey, Guernsey, and Gibraltar.

Iceland

SandpiperCI opened their first

store in Georgetown, Jersey in 2008. Since then, they have opened a further nine Iceland stores; five in Jersey along with four in Guernsey. These stores also transferred to Morrisons in 2024 with the final Iceland being converted in 2025. Iceland stores after this date will be in different locations and operated by Alliance Supermarkets.

iQ Apple Premium Reseller

SandpiperCI acquired the iQ franchise in Jersey and Guernsey in 2017 and opened a further store in the Isle of Man in 2020. They are the only Apple Premium Reseller in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man.

Le Cocq's Stores

Le Cocq's Stores were founded in Alderney in 1860 and were bought by SandpiperCI in September 2020. The chain is currently made up of two shops based in Le Huret, and

Braye Harbour Braye Harbour (also known as Alderney Harbour) is the main harbour on the north side of the island of Alderney, in the Channel Islands, a dependency of the British Crown. A breakwater was built by the Admiralty to protect the Navy in the 19th ...

(known as Freezer Centre at The Cuttings). These stores are the only ones transferred to Morrisons which will retain their existing name.

Liberty Wharf

In 2018, SandpiperCI purchased Liberty Wharf shopping centre in St Helier, Jersey. Liberty Wharf is a shopping centre housed in a restored Victorian

abattoir In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir (), is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a meat ...

Marks & Spencer

The Marks & Spencer franchise has been operating for at least 50 years.

Matalan

SandpiperCI acquired the

franchise and opened its first stores in Liberty Wharf, Jersey, and St Martins, Guernsey, in March 2021.

Morrisons Daily Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited, trading as Morrisons, is the List of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom, fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Sco ...

In February 2018, the British supermarket chain,

Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited, trading as Morrisons, is the List of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom, fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Sco ...

, announced a new wholesale supply initiative with SandpiperCI, which included a number of their 43 stores being re-branded as "Morrisons Daily" and selling Morrisons' own-brand products. By 2022, SandpiperCI had converted 19 of their stores in the Channel Islands to the Morrisons Daily format, including the former Benest's of Millbrook store at Lisbon House, which was run by the Benest family for more than 100 years.

Richards Newsagents & Post Office

SandpiperCI acquired Richards

Newsagents A newsagent's shop or simply newsagent's or paper shop (British English), newsagency (Australian English) or newsstand ( American and Canadian English) is a business that sells newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and often items of local ...

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

Alderney Alderney ( ; ; ) is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependencies, Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The island's area is , making it the third-largest isla ...

in 2022.

The Gibraltar Bakery

The Gibraltar Bakery is a bakery and coffee shop located at Grand Casemates Square, Gibraltar serving pastries, croissants, and cakes. The Gibraltar Bakery was formally run as a franchise of The Cornish Bakery, a British chain founded in 1994 as Pasty Presto, which has more than 30 outlets in the UK.

The Wine Warehouse

Since 1995, SandpiperCI operates the largest off-license chain in the islands under the name of Wine Warehouse with 14 stores in Jersey and five located in Guernsey. The majority of Wine Warehouses can be found as sections within their other branded grocery stores, but separate stand-alone Wine Warehouses can be found at Five Oaks in St Saviour and next to Morrisons Daily Benest store at Lisbon House in Millbrook.This brand was also transferred to Morrisons with Iceland, Checkers Xpress and the existing Morrisons Daily outlets.

Others

MMD Shipping Services, a

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

-based business that specialises in stevedoring, warehousing and distribution services, publishing, brewing, baking, and Channel Rentals (company and residential technology hire) figure amongst the group's other activities. These divisions are now run separately. The property division (formally COMPROP) is responsible for the acquisition and development of commercial and residential property which is then sold or retained for letting.

Former operations

Large supermarkets

In October 2010 it was announced that contracts had been exchanged for the sale of the three major Checkers supermarkets, at Redhouse's and Rue des Pres in Jersey and Admiral Park in Guernsey, to

. The deal was subject, amongst other things, to the approval of the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Safeway

Between 2005 and 2011, CI Traders/ Sandpiper CI operated the Safeway stores in

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

and

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

. When Safeway was bought by Morrisons, the decision was made to sell the Safeway Channel Islands stores, where the stores joined SandpiperCI until they were purchased by Waitrose and converted.

CI Hospitality

CI Hospitality operates in excess of 80

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

s across the islands. The hospitality division is now run separately as Liberation Group.

Cimandis

foodservice The foodservice (US English) or catering (British and Commonwealth English) industry includes the businesses, institutions, and companies which prepare meals outside the home. It includes restaurants, grocery stores, school and hospital cafet ...

wholesale and

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

business, Cimandis, was sold to Bidvest 3663 in 2015. , the business continues to be branded Cimandis Foodservice.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen

In 2013, SandpiperCI operated two

Gourmet Burger Kitchen Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) is a chain of luxury restaurants in the United Kingdom and Ireland specialising in gourmet burgers. There is a subtle Kiwi theme throughout the restaurants, a reference to the heritage of the original owners. ...

restaurants in Guernsey and Jersey.

L'Abeille

L'Abeille, a French soft drinks manufacturer based in

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

, was bought by a Jersey brewer in 1989 and merged to form Channel Islands Traders in 2002. The business was sold in 2009.

Pet and Home Discount Centre

In 2014, Sandpiper started its Pet and Home Discount Centre branded 'shop-in-shops'. Three stores opened in Jersey, and one opened in Guernsey. All stores quietly closed the same year. The 'shop-in-shop' areas that Pet and Home Discount Centre took up now house Checkers Xpress,

, and Wine Warehouse stores.

Notes

References

{{reflist

External links

Sandpiper CI
Companies of the Channel Islands 2007 establishments in Jersey