Sainsbury’s is set to trial its convenience store format at a motorway service station in what could be the beginning of a venture with motorway services group Welcome Break.
The supermarket is planning to test a 2,200 sq ft Sainsbury’s Local store in Birchanger Green, on the M11 near Stansted, over the next six months.
Welcome Break will employ staff at the Sainsbury’s Local store in a link up similar to Marks & Spencer’s and Moto, which operates the Simply Food outlets at motorway service stations.
But no agreement between Sainsbury’s and Welcome Break on openings has been signed.
Jonathon Lawson, director of Sainsbury’s convenience stores, said: “The Sainsbury’s Local format has been enormously popular with commuters at railway stations, and this trial is an extension to that successful concept.”
