Crouch End 835: Opening

Waitrose Crouch End 835 opened on 8th October 2009.

The following article appeared in the Partnership in-house magazine at the time.

Crouch End, our third convenience format and our first in London, opened its doors on 8th October 2009 as customers flocked in, forming queues 30 to 40 deep. The 6230 sq ft store, acquired from Woolworths, on Crouch End Broadway, follows in the footsteps of our convenience store trials in Trinity Square and Clifton which opened last December and March respectively.
Manager Steve, described the opening as ‘absolutely amazing – we had a few operational issues because we did not expect to be so busy, but it feels amazing.’
In fact it was so busy that within three hours of opening, Partners had to get out the mobile till, which they had not expected to use until Christmas, to deal with the volume of customers.
The branch has a similar offer to that of Trinity Square and Clifton with a Time of Day counter, a hot food counter which offers bacon and sausage rolls for breakfast and pizzas and pies later on in the day and a bakery just inside the front window. New to this branch is a cheese/deli counter which showcases our Taiteur range and replaces the meat and fish counter. The store also has an ambient kosher range to cater for the local Jewish community. ‘We have a very mixed community here – Asian, Greek and Jewish – and we try to cater for everybody.’ Steve said.
He foresaw the main challenges ahead as being ‘Getting used to a smaller branch with smaller assortments although it has the look and feel of a Waitrose and getting that message over to our customers.’
The branch which lies halfway between our existing branches at Finchley and Holloway Road, faces lots of competition on Crouch End Broadway, but Steve is determined to differentiate. ‘That’s why we’ve been put here- to see if the trial’s robust enough. Our aim is to be part of the community and offer the best service in Crouch End.’
Around 70 Partners – most of whom are new, with about 6 who have transferred from other branches, work in the branch.

‘A fantastic team effort has once again enabled customers in a new location to enjoy the wonders of Waitrose.’ said Mark, Director Retail Operations (North). ‘Crouch End may be too far from the City to hear the bells of St Clements, but there’s no doubt the tills will be ringing with encouraging sales in the days and weeks ahead. The excitement from shoppers [on opening day] was tangible and the shop was buzzing throughout the morning. Our proposition has built on learnings from Trinity Square and Clifton and incorporates Quick check and a new style cheese/deli counter.’
‘We are delighted to have our first London convenience store open and can’t believe the start we’ve had with sales almost double our sales projections,’ said Anthony Head of Convenience. The team have performed miracles to serve nearly 12,000 customers in what has been the busiest store in the company in terms of transactions per square foot over the first four days of trade.’

Chronicle Vol 69 No 42

Address: 35-39 The Broadway Crouch End London N8 8DU