Buxton: Opening

Waitrose Buxton 748 opened on 25/5/2006. The following article appeared in The Gazette at the time.

“Great Teamwork springs to life in beautiful Buxton

Who cut the ribbon at last Thursday’s opening of Waitrose Buxton? According to ex-Somerfield Branch Manager Andy, there was ever only one hat in the ring and that belonged to Eileen, Supermarket Assistant, Checkouts. Eileen has raised almost £10,000 for the regional Breast Cancer Care Unit where she had previously been treated and within minutes of wielding the scissors, she was back at her till with a queue of well-wishers waiting to see her. It was a fitting start to the shop’s new life as a Waitrose.
As the third of the Turin conversions, the Branch’s opening in the town’s Spring Garden Centre, marked Waitrose’s arrival in Derbyshire and had been eagerly awaited by customers. As Patricia explained, ‘You can get things in Waitrose that you can’t get in any other supermarket and your staff are always so helpful.’ Mary agreed, ‘I love Waitrose, so when I heard you were coming here, I thought it was too good to be true.’ she said.
These words were music to the ears of Refurbishment Project Manager, Simon as they proved that customers remained blissfully unaware of the ‘frenetic’ activity that had ensured the 25,000 sq ft branch was transformed from a Somerfield in just fourteen days. Diplomatically describing Buxton as the ‘most challenging’ conversion he and his team – including Waitrose’s external contractors- have tackled, he explained, ‘the tight timescale and late changes to our plans meant we had to be very flexible and creative to turn some sections round in just eight days. Normally we would leave the back of house alone, but here we needed to create a larger wines section by taking some of the warehouse space on to the shop floor. Only Waitrose can do this in such a short time: it’s all down to teamwork.’
Chris, Merchandising Project Manager confirmed, ‘It has definitely been a tough build, but now we are in our fourth set of acquisitions, it’s almost business as usual. And I’ve got to mention the rain. This is only the 12th hour it hasn’t rained in Buxton in the last two weeks, and we had begun to think we should replace our barbeque assortment with rubber dinghies.’
The sun had indeed come out for the opening, but while seconded Branch Manager Steve (from Cirencester) joked that Waitrose had ‘brought the sun to Buxton’, the effect was short lived. It was raining again by Friday.

The conversion process has seen the former Somerfield staff transformed into Waitrose Partners after training at Sandbach and Wilmslow. Many assembled for the final countdown when Andy thanked Steve and his seconded team of specialist helpers for all their ‘effort, openness and strength of character in making us feel welcome.’

Speaking later he explained that local people are keen to support Buxton.’ It is a small town but it is surrounded by outlying villages with quite an affluent population and a number of second homes. We provide a good service for that community.’
Service was certainly the order of the day on 25th May as the acquired Partners got back to the business of welcoming shoppers. As Sue, Supermarket Assistant Fresh Food put it, ‘Closing the old shop was sad, but there was an underlying excitement. Had I been to a Waitrose before? Only at Harrogate and I remember thinking it was a nice shop but not knowing the company at all.’

Neil, Supermarket Assistant Fresh Foods was one of the fifty new Partners recruited for the shop. ‘I worked in a record shop before this, so this is quite a change, but I like dealing with customers and I’m already finding out how friendly Waitrose is’ he said.

Specialist helpers included food service Assistant Section Manager Carolyn from Ramsgate and John Lewis Cheadle’s Tristan and Madeleine . They spent eight weeks at Wilmslow last year and were keen to help again. ‘We really enjoy seeing how the other side of the business works and you can’t beat the buzz you get when you open a new branch,’ said Tristan. “

03.06.06
The Gazette Vol 88 No 18