Eldon Square: Opening

Waitrose Eldon Square 461 opened on 28th August 2008
The following article appeared in the Partnership in-house magazine at the time.

Waitrose at Eldon Square in Newcastle is a 10,000 sq ft. shop situated in what used to be the bus station below the Eldon Square shopping centre in the heart of Newcastle. Above is John Lewis, and surrounding the branch is a very smart refurbished mall.
Eldon Square offers a full shop in a compact and attractive space – the best of the Clearwater designs shining through.
And customers were certainly impressed. The branch was still heaving with shoppers well into the middle of the afternoon on opening day.  The response so far from customers has been overwhelmingly positive. ‘The manager said ‘The look of the branch has been really well received by all, but most of all they are commenting on the quality and range of fresh foods. The branch is very special and given the vibrancy of Newcastle, we expect the patterns of trade to be very similar to those in our central London branches.’
He was also keen to praise the help he and his Partners had received from colleagues right across the Partnership.
‘The level of support from the Waitrose training team, led by Anna was simply superb. They faced many challenges due to the geography of the branch and our new recruits received training by transfer in Harrogate, Morningside and Hexham. The quality of training in those branches was first class, as were all other courses laid on for the team’.
‘We have received flood team support from all over the business to help us get established, in particular, colleagues from Group J have been outstanding, with all the support for training and helping balance out stock levels. Group F were also great as they handled the training by transfer of my management team, giving them a chance to operate in a busy city centre environment.’

In addition, he reserves some very special praise for colleagues from John Lewis Newcastle.’ This project would not have been possible without the support and help from all Partners at John Lewis Newcastle. This was driven right from the start by John Hayes, Managing Director John Lewis Newcastle at that stage and now Barry the current MD. The excitement at John Lewis has been building since the announcement in January and they have helped us market the branch through their customer base and were as excited about us opening as we were.’
‘The support that JL has offered includes giving up part of their floor space to create a trolley bay and walkway through their lifts so customers can get access to the roof top car park. Partners across the JL store are also helping by working with us for the opening period while four Partners have transferred to us permanently. We are able to share amenities – dining room, social, meeting rooms – and storage space in their warehouse, as well as recycling facilities for plastics. Finally, we have marketed our branch opening extensively throughout the store and have benefited from their vast knowledge of Newcastle.
‘This project has really brought home how well the business works together across all directorates to deliver a branch that we are all very proud of.’

Chronicle 06.09.08.
Vol 68 No 36