09 May 2008


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Waitrose unveils more sites for smaller format stores

Waitrose

convenience retailing

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The market towns of Buckingham and Brackley, Northamptonshire, are next in line for Waitrose's new smaller format, the retailer revealed today.

As revealed last week, the new format will launch in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, in May.

The Buckingham and Brackley stores will open in June and July respectively.

Both stores were recently acquired from other retailers, with the 13,000sq ft Brackley outlet bought only last month from the Co-operative Group.

Waitrose typically operates in medium-sized shops between 20,000-25,000sq ft, but the new market town format will apply to 10,000sq ft-15,000sq ft shops located in smaller towns.

Waitrose managing director Mark Price said:

"Our brand has traditionally had a 'sweet spot' of around 20,000sq ft, but in a competitive environment we need to be more flexible and improve the potential of the smaller shops in our estate.

“The market town format will allow us to achieve that, as well as giving us new opportunities to grow the business.

“We are going back to the grass roots of the traditional town food shop, which aims to reassert the sense of community and service associated with our brand.

“By engaging with the community in our research, as well as providing local information and more local produce, we want our customers to get a real sense that this is their shop.

“We have always taken pride in being a fresh food specialist, and in the support we offer small and local producers. With this concept we have dedicated more space to fresh foods and more locally sourced products than ever before."

Key features of the new market town format will be:

• New branch design, look and ranges tailored to the needs of the town
• Locally produced food and drink lines will increase by 200%
• More emphasis on fresh foods with over half the shop dedicated to fresh products
• A “Community Wall” that will feature local information, including pictures and details of local “food heroes
• A new convenient bakery design, unique to this format
• Waitrose Deliver – the retailer’s online shopping service – will be available to order in branch for the first time
• A new shop layout, including fresh and frozen options being next to each other and seasonal fruit and vegetables being together


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