Stores Acquisition

Sainsbury(J) PLC
14 May 2004





14 May 2004


Sainsbury's acquires stores from Morrisons

Sainsbury's has agreed to acquire 14 stores from Morrisons comprising 13 Safeway
branded stores and one Morrisons store.   The average store size is 30,000 sq
ft.

Justin King, Sainsbury's Chief Executive said, 'When we announced the sale of
Shaw's, our US supermarket business on March 26th 2004, we indicated that we
would use a proportion of the funds generated to develop further Sainsbury's
core UK supermarkets business to strengthen our market position and deliver
future growth.

'These stores from Morrisons give us a great opportunity to increase our selling
space in the UK by over 400,000 sq ft, a little under 3%.   Such opportunities
have become increasingly rare and we are delighted to secure these stores and
look forward to introducing Sainsbury's products and services to new areas and
customers.   We also look forward to welcoming 2,600 new colleagues to
Sainsbury's.'

The stores are located primarily in the Midlands and the north of England and
had a net book value of £110m at September 2003.

In accordance with the process set out by the Competition Commission in its
report on the Safeway merger, each store acquisition is conditional upon
approval from the OFT.  The stores acquisition is expected to complete in phases
over the summer.

In a separate transaction Sainsbury's has also acquired a 16,500 sq ft store
from Somerfield in Bridgnorth, Shropshire; this completed on 23rd April.

It is anticipated that the acquisition of these stores from Morrisons and
Somerfield will be earnings neutral in 2004/05, reflecting the timing of their
openings and earnings enhancing in their first full year of operation.



For enquiries:
Investor Relations                              Media
Roger Matthews                                  Jan Shawe
Lynda Ashton [phone]             Pip Wood [phone]



Store locations                 existing sales area (sq ft)

SAFEWAY branded

Mansfield, Notts                                                   30,000
Whitehouse Farm Stockton, Cleveland                                24,500
Chafford Hundred, Essex                                            30,000
Tadcaster, North Yorks                                              9,750
Cramlington, Northumberland                                        29,800
Scunthorpe, Humberside                                             30,175
Team Valley, Tyne and Wear                                         34,750
Spalding, Lincs                                                    27,500
Scarborough, North Yorks                                           30,000
Grantham, Lincs                                                    29,500
Darlington, County Durham                                          35,000
Heaton Newcastle, Tyne and Wear                                    31,500
Lytham St Anne's, Lancs                                            20,140

MORRISONS

Ripon, North Yorks                                                 23,100

SOMERFIELD

Bridgnorth, Shropshire                                             16,500




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange