Waitrose has hit the ground running in 2009 creating more than 2,500 jobs this year in a new expansion project.
The supermarket chain has agreed to buy 13 stores from the Co-operative Group, for an undisclosed sum, after the latter's takeover of Somerfield and plans to boost the store’s staff numbers significantly.
In addition, Waitrose will announce that it plans to open at least nine new stores this year, including sites at Bristol, Altrincham, Colchester, Winchester and Weston-super-Mare.
Waitrose has set out two aims for 2009, primarily to overtake Marks & Spencer in food and drink sales and also to wrestle market share from Tesco and Sainsbury's in sales of ingredients and food being bought by family shoppers.
Mark Price, managing director of Waitrose, told The Times: “As a result of this acquisition and our expansion plans, we will be creating 2,250 new jobs in the stores, but there will be more in the distribution, warehouse and call centre operations.”
Waitrose is a staff owned business and thus all staff recruited and existing Somerfield employees at the stores involved will become “partners” in the company which entitles them to an annual bonus and a non-contributory final salary pension plan.
Price said Waitrose intend to double the amount of current staff in Co-op and Somerfield stores meaning about 4,000 people, including staff already working at the stores, will become Waitrose “partners” this year, taking the total above 43,000.
“These two things are within our grasp. In food and drink, we are only just behind M&S at present, but given that we will have 220 stores and they have 1,000 outlets selling food and drink, that will be quite an achievement. We're already ahead of them if you include household goods.
“But we also want to do more for family cooks and in ingredients. We have already made ourselves more competitive in this area - last year we invested £50 million in price and introduced offers on some 700 lines - and feel there is more to do,” said Price.
There has also been unconfirmed rumours that Waitrose is in talks with the administrators of Woolworths to buy some of the former high-street retailer's former sites.
The Office of Fair Trading said last night that it would not be referring the Co-op's takeover of Somerfield to the Competition Commission, as it was satisfied with Co-op's agreement to sell 133 stores in areas where competition would otherwise have been reduced.
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