Waitrose plans to open 100 comfort retailers over subsequent 5 years

Waitrose has revealed plans to open 100 new ‘convenience’ stores over the next five years as part of a £1billion investment in new shops and refurbishments.

The supermarket will also trial new hatches where food delivery riders – from Deliveroo and Uber Eats – can make collections outside store opening hours.

The premium supermarket chain will open the stores across England, Wales and Scotland – marking the first time it has opened new shops for six years.

The stores will focus on ‘areas which differentiate the grocer’, including deli service counters, wine selections, dry aged beef cabinets and dedicated parmesan sections.

The £1billion investment will be spent on launching the new stores to build on the ‘Little Waitrose’ convenience model, the supermarket said.

The move will offer competition to other ‘convenience’ stores, such as Tesco Express and Sainsbury’s Local, which have expanded massively across the country in recent years.

It comes after research found that living near a Waitrose may boost your home’s value – but you’ll also pay a ‘posh premium’ of up 40 per cent compared other branded goods to shop there.

The new ‘convenience’ stores will be opened across England, Wales and Scotland with the first due to open in leafy Hampton Hill, west London

James Bailey, executive director of Waitrose, (pictured) said the supermarket is on a ‘real positive upward trajectory’

The first of its new stores is due to open in leafy Hampton Hill, west London, by the end of this year.

The upmarket chain also plans to improve 150 existing stores – almost half of its existing 329-strong chain.

It will also transform a shop in London’s Finchley Road to trial new services, products and concepts over the next year.

This will help the group – which is part of the John Lewis Partnership – draw up a blueprint for all its shops which will be shared in 2025, the supermarket said.

James Bailey, executive director of Waitrose, said the ‘groundwork we have undertaken behind the scenes in recent years’ means the company can now open new shops and ensure ‘our existing ones are providing great shopping experiences that match the quality of our products’.

He added that new in-store concepts will be tested and rolled out nationally ‘as we continue to work towards the Waitrose of the future’.

The first new Waitrose store is set to be in Hampton Hill later this year, followed by another in the capital early next year.

Waitrose, owned by the John Lewis Partnership, plans to invest £1billion in new stores and refurbishments over the next five years

The £1billion investment will be spent on launching the new stores, building on the ‘Little Waitrose’ convenience model 

Investment will focus on innovations such as chilled departments for wine and beer, and a dry aged beef cabinet and dedicated parmesan section in shops.

It will also focus on expanding collaborations with other sellers including Crosstown Doughnuts and Hot Wok meals provided by Sushi Daily.

The Finchley Road shop, in north London, will be the first to feature a hatch where food delivery riders, like Deliveroo and Uber Eats, can make collections outside the store’s opening hours.

The announcement comes as Waitrose began to regain market share after a period in which it came under pressure from its rival Marks & Spencer and the cost of living crisis, in which shoppers often sought cheaper options.

In the three months to the beginning of August Waitrose recorded its strongest growth since November 2023, according to data from analysts at Kantar.

The announcement comes ahead of the arrival of Jason Tarry, the former Tesco boss, who will next month replace Sharon White as chair of the John Lewis Partnership.

Mr Bailey said older stores were being refurbished to feature ‘more of what people expect from us and love such as counters, unequalled service and a lot more fresh food’.

He added: ‘The transformation of our Finchley Road store marks the next evolution of our journey to create a great shopping experience for our customers, underpinned by a high-quality product offering tailored to the local area, and the quality service we are synonymous with.

‘In designing the store, we have taken time to understand how our customers like to shop, and used this knowledge to introduce new concepts that will be tested and rolled out nationally as we continue to work towards the Waitrose of the future.’

Research in June found that living near a Waitrose may boost your home’s value – but customers pay up to 40 per cent more for branded goods at the store than at Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons

A basket of branded items bought from Waitrose was found to cost nearly £9 more than the exact same goods at other supermarkets. The basket included 20 household items, which came to a total of £72.16 at Waitrose.

The average total across the Big Four retailers was £63.33.

The research, which was carried out by the Mail, compared the cost of items including Heinz baked beans, Hovis bread and Fairy washing up liquid, across the five supermarkets. 

The products were the same size and not part of multi-buy deals. Only the full retail price was taken into account rather than prices available to loyalty card holders.

Waitrose shoppers were found to pay an average of 44p more per item. A 350g packet of Cathedral City mature cheddar cheese cost £4.25 at Waitrose. But it was £3.50 at Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s and just £2.75 at Morrisons.

The starkest price difference was a large box of Persil non-bio washing powder costing £7.50 at the other supermarkets and 40 per cent more in Waitrose at £10.50.