Dorking 107 traded in the same building in South Street for 52 years – it was one of our first original shops to open. The original 9 000 sq ft branch was built in 1961 and was one of our most successful shops to trade outside London.
In May 2013 the branch closed and relocated up the road to the “Dinky Dorking” site [branch 755], a 3000 sq foot temporary site on Dorking High Street, where they were to trade for c. 14 months while a new purpose built store was being built on the original site in South Street.
Waitrose Dorking 527 opened on 16th October 2014, 18 months after the original branch in the same location closed.
The brand new branch offered a huge café, a new meat counter, an attractive new wine department, a new bakery, a new Welcome Desk and a juice bar.
The 280 Partners in the new branch came from a variety of places. 170 were brand new to the Partnership, 70 were original Dorking Partners.
Customers were excited on opening morning, queuing outside before the doors opened.
In keeping with the rest of the High Street, the branch was been built with different finishes on the front to create the appearance of a number of small shop units. Construction Project Manager Ken explained. ‘From the public’s point of view, if they look at the rest of the high street they see little boutique shops everywhere, so it looks like that from the outside, but inside it is one huge shop. That way it fits better into the high street’.
Dorking 107: Opened: 14/03/1961 Address: 48 South Street Dorking RH4 2HQ
Dorking 755: Opened: 16/05/2013 Address: 209 – 213 High Street Dorking RH4 1RU
Dorking 527: Opened: 16/10/2014 Address: 48 South Street Dorking Surrey RH4 2HQ
Sources: Chronicle Vol 73, 24/5/2013, Chronicle Vol 74 No 39
24/10/14
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