Ugo (retailer)

Ugo was a chain of convenience stores in the United Kingdom owned by the Haldanes Group and was started in January 2011.

It acquired 20 mid-size Netto supermarkets in the North and Midlands of England from the Asda chain and turned them into Ugo stores; these stores were in: Athersley, Ashington, Blackburn, Boothferry, Bradford, Burnley, Bury, Carcroft, Eston, Hartlepool, Hull (two stores), Kirkby, Lundwood, Monk Bretton, Nuneaton, Retford, Rotherham, Stanley and Wavertree. Additionally, the Haldanes stores in Biddulph (Staffordshire) and Broxburn (Scotland) were converted to the Ugo branding; these two stores remained in the ownership of Haldanes Stores, another company in the Haldanes Group.

The Ugo strategy was to double Netto’s existing core range of branded grocery lines to around 3,000 more items, plus more fresher bakery items from the Haldanes-acquired Woodhead Bakery.

UGO have appeared twice on television in the United Kingdom. It appeared on Channel 4's Come Dine With Me and recently appeared on Channel 4's Facejacker which aired on March 27, 2012 at 10pm.

In 2011 Haldanes Stores went into administration and its stores closed, including the two stores branded as Ugo. Ugo Stores was itself placed in administration as of April 2012, and was bought by Poundstretcher in a pre-pack sale, with 18 of the 20 stores to become part of the Poundstretcher chain and the other two (Nuneaton and one of the Hull stores) to close as Poundstretcher already had stores nearby.