Waitrose is taking to the retail battleground of motorway services, following a deal with Welcome Break to open shops in two of its service stations.
The upmarket retailer will create 50 jobs from the deal and extend Waitrose's reach to a potential nine million new customers, it said in a statement.
The two 2,500sqft shops will be Waitrose's smallest to date and will offer more than 850 product lines.
But they may not operate in entirely the same manner as other Waitrose stores with some offers, such as its newly announced seasonal re-usable bag of vegetables including red-skinned Mozart potatoes, parsnips, cauliflower and broccoli, not available.
A spokesperson told freshinfo: “In essence, Waitrose stores at Welcome Break won't necessarily have the same promotions as the main branches and while there will be some fruit and veg, these stores are not the same as our smaller convenience stores, for example, which have a smaller range.”
The first shop will open on May 1 at the Oxford Services on the M40, one of Europe's busiest motorway service stations, with the second opening at South Mimms on the M25, which orbits London, on May 15.
Waitrose managing director Mark Price said: "This move into franchising and motorway service areas builds on our recent ventures into other new formats such as Market Town and Convenience - all designed to provide flexibility around our growth ambitions and increase awareness of our brand.”
Waitrose said in January it planned to open 22 stores this year.
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