The Appleby Westward Group (AWG) operates and supplies both a company owned SPAR Estate and well established group of independent SPAR retailers across the South West of England. AWG’s territory stretches from West Sussex to Land’s End and as far north as south Gloucestershire.

AWG has been a Spar wholesaler since 1968 and has operated out of it’s Saltash warehouse since the 60’s. In recent years the chilled and frozen wholesale operations have been consolidated at the Gregory Distribution site in Cullompton.

In 2016 the Group acquired the retailer, Gillett’s (Callington) Ltd. Gillett’s operated 63 SPAR stores across the AWG region. The Group now owns over 120 retail stores and continues to acquire through its Wessex Retail subsidiary.

The company and its stores have adapted to the effects of the global coronavirus pandemic, weathering the storm by safeguarding employees and customers, finding new ways of meeting customer needs and working even more closely with the communities its stores serve. As Appleby Westward’s expansion continues, the company is seeking to create over 1,000 new jobs by 2025, reinforcing SPAR’s position as the foremost convenience brand in the west country.

Appleby Westward is actively recruiting independent retailers to SPAR and we are always delighted to hear from Independent retailers wishing to find out some more about SPAR and the key benefits that SPAR provides.

At AWG, we thrive to contribute to being environmentally friendly. We are a member of the WRAP Plastics Pact “where plastic is valued and does not pollute the environment”. This is a voluntary agreement that SPAR have signed up to that requires reporting annually. We contribute to this by reducing the amount of packaging on our store shelves, and where plastic is used, ensure it’s recyclable. In addition to this, some fresh SPAR branded products are sourced locally in Cornwall. All dairy milk is sourced from family run farms.