Woolworths has announced plans to open 50 stores over the next five years and extend up to 50 existing shops.
According to a Woolworths spokesman, the stores will range from 465 sq m (5,000 sq ft) to 2,323 sq m (25,000 sq ft). The retailer is looking for prime pitch stores and hopes to open in towns where it doesn’t already have a presence such as Colchester, Chester, Oldham and Dover.
Over the past three years, Woolworths has opened an annual average of 2-3 new stores while it has concentrated on the refurbishment and rebranding of 292 stores as “local” outlets.
So far this year, Woolworths has opened in Taunton, Kirkcaldy, Monks Cross and York while stores in Aberdeen, Brixton, Shrewsbury and Birkenhead have been extended.
Woolworths managing director Roger Holmes said: “Towns throughout the UK have been identified for new Woolworths. We are absolutely confident that Woolworths will be welcomed in these towns and rapidly become part of the local community, just as it has been in nearly 800 stores nationwide”.
EGi News 05/11/98
Do you have a comment about this story? Send a note to the editor.
