Member

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) is the voice of over 18,000 rural shops, supporting our members through effective lobbying, comprehensive advice and innovative networking opportunities. Rural shops contribute £4bn in GVA and 165,500 jobs in rural communities.

ACS’ core purpose is to lobby Government on the issues that make a difference to local shops. We represent the interests of retailers on a range of issues related to the rural economy, including business rates, planning, Post Offices, employment, payments, services, product regulation and more.

Our membership includes a diverse range of convenience store retailers, from stand-alone family run independent stores to symbol groups to multiple convenience stores. These retailers operate in neighbourhoods, villages, on petrol forecourts and on high streets.

ACS’ Rural Shop Report 2026 shows that rural retailers have invested £281m in the past year, providing essential access to a variety of products, services, and job opportunities. 79% of these stores are owned and operated by independent retailers, and 62% of rural shoppers would have to travel more than two miles for essential groceries if their local shop wasn’t there.

ACS’ key policy priorities for rural shops include:

• Action to ensure rural shops have reliable broadband, mobile connectivity and electricity supply, alongside better coordination of local infrastructure works to minimise disruption to trading.
• A more tailored approach to tackling retail crime in rural areas, with improved policing capacity, faster response times and greater support for crime prevention in isolated stores.
• A flexible, rural-proofed and genuinely cost-neutral approach to the Deposit Return Scheme that reflects lower footfall, space constraints and staffing pressures faced by rural retailers.

More information on our policy priorities can be found here.

Research

ACS conducts an extensive research programme, highlights include:

The Rural Shop Report, which brings together data from respected industry sources with brand new information about the entrepreneurs that run rural convenience stores.

The Community Barometer tracks the opinions of retailers, consumers and councillors on the services nearby, the policies that should be a priority in their area and the performance of their local councils.

Contact: jordan.newfield@acs.org.uk