There were rumours and speculation, and Waitrose waited until the end of December to officially confirm the information: a convenience store will indeed be launched in Leatherhead in 2016. Its exact location will be 14-22 Church Street. This little Waitrose shop will cover a surface area of 6,000 square feet with 22 parking spaces for customers and will offer a selection of more than 5,000 products. The store opening is expected sometime around the middle of the year, but more likely in the late summer. Of course the opening comes with new jobs, more than 60 in this case, and recruitment is scheduled to begin this spring.
"We realise there has been a great deal of anticipation as to when we would be in a position to confirm that we are coming to Leatherhead and we are delighted that has arrived" said Nigel Keen, Waitrose Director of Development. "We have always been overwhelmed by the number of letters we receive asking us to open here – an ambition we have shared for a long time. We now cannot wait to bring together our new team, welcome our new customers and play our part in encouraging shoppers to visit the parade as well as the high street."
*Photo: Waitrose
News in the same category
Pret a Manger unveiled its new store in Cardiff in October, becoming the first company to open a shop as part of the city's new Central Square development.
The proposed extension of the Royal Victoria Place shopping centre in Tunbridge Wells, which has already faced a lengthy delay in starting, may not now take place as the centre is now apparently about to be sold for a sum in the region of £100 million.
Co-op is a food store chain that represents the UK consumer co-operative movement in the food retail industry. Under the brand, there are more than 15 distinct co-operative societies running more than 4,000 shops.
At first read, the headline seems to bode more gloom and doom for the UK retail sector, but all is not as it seems. M&S are in the midst of a major restructuring programme, which has already seen the closure of 35 stores in 2018.
