UK grocery retailer Sainsbury’s has opened a new flagship store at Nine Elms in London, which CEO Mike Coupe says will aim to give customers everything they need under one roof.
“We’re delighted to open our new store in Nine Elms and show our customers our vision for the supermarket of the future,” Mr Coupe blogged. “There is certainly a trend towards shopping in convenience stores and online, but supermarkets still take more than £1 [$1.60] for every £2 [$3.20] spent on groceries in the UK and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
“That makes it an exciting time for retail. Customers want convenience, flexibility, speed and choice to shop whenever and wherever they want. Whether it’s home delivery, click and collect or a visit to one of our stores, Nine Elms demonstrates perfectly how our customers will benefit from great-quality products, services and fast delivery.
“For example, the layout at Nine Elms has been carefully designed to make it easy and convenient for customers to navigate, which includes putting our new On the Go sandwich, sushi and snack range close to the self-check-outs and exit for those who want to be in and out as quickly as possible. Food to go is increasingly important to our customers so we’ve invested £8 million [$12.8 million] in the quality and variety of our range.
“There are also carefully chosen concession partners offering complementary products and services which are key to making Nine Elms store a destination shop for customers. As well as a Sainsbury’s Café, Nine Elms is also home to the first Sushi Gourmet concession in the UK, a Starbucks, Lloyds Pharmacy and an Explore Learning Centre.”