Edgware Road: Opening

Waitrose Edgware Road 768 opened on 26th November 2008.  The following article appeared in the Partnership in-house magazine at the time.

The first of our Woolworths acquisition branches opened last week [26/11/2008] in Edgware Road, after a challenging eight weeks spent transforming a non-food shop into a premium Waitrose branch.
The shop, which had no previous refrigeration, had to be fitted with drainage gullies, power and lighting as well as all the Mark V fixtures and designs taken from Clearwater branches. It is also our first branch to have the High Street café format.
The 21 000 sq. foot branch is one of four Woolworths acquisitions, with Chiswick and Clapham Junction opening this week [26/11/2008] and Islington following next year [2009].
More than 2000 people applied for jobs at the branch which now has 180 Partners, most of whom are new to the Partnership. This includes 11 non-management Partners who have transferred from other branches and a management team of 23 existing Partners.

The location of the branch has thrown up some challenges. Despite being only a 10 minute walk from Oxford Street, it is in the middle of a residential area. ‘The biggest challenge now will be getting the stock in because our unloading bay is in a residential street,’ said BM Nick. ‘But we’ve got very sympathetic neighbours who we’ve worked closely with. We’ve already established a good relationship with them and are about to deliver hampers and gift vouchers to every resident to say thank you. What we’ve got does not come along very often – prime retail space in the heart of London.’
‘The conversion has been incredibly smooth given that this is the first time we’ve acquired a shop from a non-food retailer, which presented challenges to all departments – to achieve what they have is amazing,’ said Manager Matt.

Gazette 05.12.08.
Vol 90 No 45