Nisa Retail Limited (formerly Nisa-Today's and Northern Independent Supermarkets Association) is a groceries wholesaler (or "symbol group") operating in the United Kingdom. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Co-operative Group, though itself not a cooperative.

History

Nisa was founded as the Northern Independent Supermarkets Association by Peter Garvin and Dudley B. Ramsden in 1977. It was formed as a mutual organisation owned by its members and operating "...like a co-operative, using the collective buying power of the large group of members to negotiate deals with suppliers". In 1987, it merged with The Today’s Group to become Nisa-Today’s. In 2006, a merger with Costcutter, another symbol group, was proposed, but ultimately fell through, after concerns about a cartel forming were reported to the Office of Fair Trading by members of Nisa-Today's who opposed the merger. In 2012, Nisa-Today's demerged into Nisa and Today's Group. Today's Group subsequently merged with Landmark Wholesale in 2018 to form Unitas Wholesale. Nick Read was appointed as Nisa CEO in February 2015, and began what The Grocer described as a "hard-fought turnaround". In November 2017, Nisa's 1,190 members approved the purchase of the business by the Co-operative Group. The acquisition was subject to regulatory approval by the Competition and Markets Authority, and was finalized in May 2018. In 2019, Nisa recruited more than 500 stores, representing a 40% increase in the number of outlets being signed.

Operations

Nisa's headquarters and one of its ambient distribution centres are co-located in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire. It also has distribution centres for temperature controlled products at Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire; Harlow, Essex and Livingston, West Lothian. Also at the co-op depot in Birtley, Tyne & Wear , some stores are branded under the LoCo fascia. , Nisa Retail Limited supplies over 4,000 convenience shops and small supermarkets, including the Costcutter symbol group and CK Foodstores in Wales. According to accounts for year ending on 31 March 2014, Nisa Retail Limited had an estimated net worth of £30.77 million.