Supermarket group Waitrose today opened the first of the former Safeway stores it acquired from the chain’s new owner Morrisons earlier this year.
The shop in Sandbach, Cheshire, is one of 19 outlets to be converted following the deal which increased Waitrose’s selling space by 20%.
Today’s launch is exactly 100 years after the group’s first shop in Acton, west London, was opened by founders Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor.
Bradford-based Morrisons sold the outlets as part of the disposal programme required by regulators following its takeover of Safeway.
All but one of the stores are Safeway-branded and Waitrose plans to complete the conversions by November.
The acquisition, which took Waitrose into new areas in the north of England and Wales is the largest ever undertaken by the John Lewis Partnership, which owns the 145-strong supermarket chain.
The remaining stores to be converted are at Abergavenny, Harrogate, Hitchin, Swaffham, Barry, Otley, Dartford, Lincoln, Sheffield, Wolverhampton, Willerby, Rushden, Fulham, Towcester, Newport in Shropshire, Worthing, Southport and Farnham.
Today’s opening follows a time of “record sales and profitability” for the group which now has a 3.8% share of the retail food market, the firm said.
Its market share in the south of England is 8%.
References: EGi News 24/06/04
