Fresh - Neighbourhood Retailer

The Food Warehouse to open in Westwood Retail Park

Linda Stewart — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 10:42:52 +0000

Food retailer The Food Warehouse has announced the creation of up to 40 new jobs in West Belfast as part of a wider £1.4m investment.

Situated in Westwood Retail Park, this will be the brand’s second supermarket store offering in Northern Ireland.

The Food Warehouse, which is part of the Iceland Foods Group, launched its big pack brand in 2014 and its retail footprint has grown rapidly to over 150 stores across the UK and Ireland, making it the fastest growing supermarket chain in the UK this century.

The Food Warehouse have announced the creation of up to 40 new jobs as part of a wider £1.4m investment. The new store, situated in Westwood Retail Park, will occupy a 16,300 sq. ft double unit and is scheduled to launch in the coming weeks.

Ron Metcalfe, managing director of The Food Warehouse Ireland, said: “Following the success of our launch into the Northern Ireland market with the first Food Warehouse in 2020, we’re thrilled to be opening our second store here at Westwood Retail Park in West Belfast.

“Throughout the pandemic and its subsequent recovery, we’ve seen strong demand in a very competitive market, and we believe that shoppers will welcome the innovative offering at our new store, particularly in a challenging economic environment with the current cost of living crisis.”

Customers can shop from more than 3,000 product lines, including fresh, frozen, and ambient produce as well as homeware items.

The store will support local business, with hundreds of products coming from local suppliers, including Mash Direct, Dale Farm, Irwins, Britvic and Tayto.

Metcalfe continued: “Trading conditions for small businesses are increasingly challenging, with margins being stretched, we believe that local businesses and the general public will benefit from our bulk offering, which offers savings on a wide range of favourite brands at unbeatable prices.

“We are committed to offering a new shopping experience for everyone as well as strengthening relationships further with local Northern Irish suppliers. I’d also like to welcome old and new customers from the local community as well as our new colleagues who will be working in the store.”

Store manager, Paul McTasney, added; “This investment into West Belfast demonstrates the company’s commitment and growth in Northern Ireland. I’m very excited to officially open the store for business and welcome all of our new customers.”

The new Food Warehouse store opens at Westwood Retail Park on Tuesday, October 11 at 8am.

Shoppers will receive exclusive launch offers as well as a £1,000 giveaway for the first 100 customers through the door, 200 goodie bags for the first 200 customers and a trolley dash where three lucky winners can grab all their favourite brands in a 90 second challenge.

Founded in 2014, The Food Warehouse now has more than 150 stores across UK & Northern Ireland.

They are all large format stores, with a car park, providing the value and convenience of a wholesale store without the hassle of membership.

Iceland and The Food Warehouse stores already employ more than 800 colleagues in Northern Ireland with plans to expand in the future.

Caption: Store Manager Paul McTasney and Iceland Area Manager Danny Burke

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Lynas Food Outlet opening new store In Portadown

Linda Stewart — Fri, 02 Sep 2022 13:56:20 +0000

Lynas Food Outlet, a Northern Ireland family-run food company known for its offering of big, bulk and value food and household goods, is launching its newest store in Portadown.

The new Lynas Food Outlet is situated at Magowan West, Portadown and will open to the public and trade on Thursday 8^th September at 10am.

“We are thrilled to open the doors of our new Portadown store as part of our continued expansion in Northern Ireland. For a long time, I have wanted to open a Lynas Food Outlet in this area, and I am very happy to have found the right location in Magowan West”, said Andrew Lynas, Group Managing Director.

“We are excited to welcome the public and trade customers from the area into our unique shopping environment that ensures they get big, bulk and value products. Now more than ever in the current cost of living crisis, the Food Outlet can help families with its bulk and value for money offering.”

Lynas Food Outlet opened their first store in 2013 and now have 11 stores across Northern Ireland. The parent company of Lynas Foodservice began over seventy years ago from a fishmongers shop on a small street in Coleraine and has grown into the largest family-owned foodservice company in Ireland.

Through its stores, Lynas Food Outlet offers hundreds of quality fresh, frozen, grocery and household products in bigger packs at wholesale value. The stores also have their own Butchery Merchant meaning that each cut is hand selected by Lynas’s own Causeway Prime Craft Butchers.

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Poundland to roll out fresh meat and fish range

Linda Stewart — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 13:47:51 +0000

Poundland has partnered with DTS Food to launch its first range of fresh meat and fish lines.

The new range of 11 items – branded ‘cookit’ – is being rolled into hundreds of stores over the next three weeks, providing “an alternative to supermarkets”.

Cookit complements Poundland’s recent expansion into chilled and frozen foods, which will be in around 350 stores by the autumn, and fresh fruit and vegetables with the full range now in over 60 stores.

The discount retailer’s initial cookit range includes ribs, steaks, bacon, sausages, mince, salmon and cod fillets.

Poundland said the new range had been selected to offer shoppers a blend of quality meat and fish at amazing value to help them make low-cost meals to offset the impact of higher inflation on food prices.

Commercial Director Tim Bettley said: “Whether clothing, frozen food or homewares, over the past few years we’ve been significantly extending up what we offer our customers so they can find much more of their weekly shop in their local Poundland.

“At the heart of that transformation is great products, and we know customers are going to love our new cookit range – it gives them quality meat and fish at the amazing value we’re famous for.

“We’re proud to be the first retailer to carry the range.”

Nick Preston, CEO of Nottingham-based DTS Food, added: “We’ve worked with Poundland for the last six months to understand what they are looking for from a supplier point of view and importantly what they want to offer their customers in terms of quality.

“As a business we have significant experience in the food industry. We understand the importance, more so than ever given the current economic climate, of giving consumers good quality products at the right price. Cookit will offer them just that.

“We’re already looking at extending the cookit range beyond this initial range of meats and seafood.”

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Nisa announces deals for start of spring

Linda Stewart — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 10:51:53 +0000

Nisa partners are geared up for the start of spring this Sunday with a range of fresh deals across a number of categories.
Research reveals that more than half of all shoppers are paying more attention to how they are spending their income and focusing on value for money as cost of living continues to surge.
“Many independent retailers are repeatedly faced with the stereotype that convenience comes at a cost, but Nisa’s periodic value-focused deals across frozen, fresh, and grocery provide a crucial lifeline to partners looking to boost basket spend as we enter the spring months,” said Promotions Manager at Nisa, Laura O’Hearne.
Nisa shoppers can fill their freezers with the group’s latest freezer deal which comprises McCain Naked Oven Chips 750g, Birds Eye XL Battered Fish 2pk, Birds Eye Crispy Batter Fish Fingers 8pk, Birds Eye Garden Peas 375g, and a Carte d’Or Vanilla 900ml ice-cream tub for just £5. Particularly perfect for those seeking a budget-friendly Friday fish supper during lent.
And Nisa’s new Co-op Fresh 3 deal has cut the cost of three staple meal ingredients: Irresistible Celandine Baby Potatoes 750g and Seedless Lines 4pk at £1, and Vine-Ripened Tomatoes 400g at £1.25.
O’Hearne said: “As we inch closer to April, we would encourage retailers to really start thinking about Easter – self-eat lines in particular. While it may still be too early for some shoppers to start stocking up on the traditional gifting eggs, many will be tempted to treat themselves to a pack of themed-cakes should they see a good offer while browsing in-store.”
Up until Tuesday 29th March, Cadbury 6pk Choc Cakes in Mini Eggs and Crème Egg variants are available in stores at £2.25 each as well as Mr Kipling Lemon Bakewells 6pk at just £1.50 a pack.
“The coming weeks play host to a number of popular calendar events, like Mother’s Day and Easter, which naturally increase footfall for stores. And we’re confident that the raft of in-store deals available this period will further boost basket spend for partners.”

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Fresh concept for NI – Henderson Retail opens its first store under the new format

Julie Nash — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 10:37:51 +0000

A new £3.7M EUROSPAR in Doagh developed with SPAR International and SPAR UK is the first refreshed EUROSPAR concept in Northern Ireland. This community supermarket offers a fresh food range tailored to the specific needs of its local community.

The 7,500 sq. ft. gross space development features a new build EUROSPAR, employs 35 people and is providing the only supermarket offering in the village. It delivers a fresh food shopping experience customised for the Doagh community and is the first of the new fresh concept stores to open in Northern Ireland.

Data driven

Mark McCammond, Retail Director at Henderson Group explains; “This community supermarket has been designed and built with a data driven approach in order to provide a mission focused customer proposition tailored for local shoppers. It is the first outlet of its kind to open in Northern Ireland, following our new “Fresh” stores initiative, adapted for that community’s particular demands and needs, encouraging increased visits for a great fresh food shopping trip close to home.”

The team has worked with marketing, tech and analyst specialists to identify several criteria to determine a store’s primary shopping mission. The most important shopper mission for this type of EUROSPAR is the fresh produce top-up shop with products conducive to making a meal, therefore a greater proportion of space and variety of range to fresh produce and fresh meat will be dedicated in-store.

Not only will EUROSPAR Doagh provide an array of local brands from Newtownabbey’s Asher’s Bakery to Jenkin’s local butchery from Ballyclare, but will also have an enhanced offering of Henderson Wholesale’s own brands including The CHEF range of pre-prepared meals, Greengrocer’s fruit and vegetables and the popular SPAR enjoy local range of meats, poultry, baked goods and every day fresh essentials.

Elevated fresh food offering

Mark continued; “This proposition provides an elevated fresh food offering and meal solutions for tonight’s tea, catering to local demands. This is an innovative approach which Henderson Retail has applied to the new store, and has a vibrant fresh look with a choice of products that will create a standout shopping experience.”

As well as the fresh credentials, the store will feature the latest tech innovation for retail efficiency, including the GLORY cash management system to provide customers with full service yet touch-less cash payment solutions at the tills, and the option of self-scan checkouts for faster and contactless checkout experiences.

Store Manager, Daniel Duncan says the facilities and services EUROSPAR Doagh will bring to the community are second to none; “We are bringing a supermarket experience to the local community, which includes a 32-space car park, customer toilet facilities, ATM, an on-site WineFlair off-license and a fuel offering from Texaco. Our in-store Post Office will be managed by Eddie Lister, while the fresh food offering will be complemented by Henderson’s dailyDeli hot food counter and Barista Bar coffee, offering a great range of premium coffee including flat whites and hot chocolates.

Engaging

“We are already engaging with the local community and sponsoring the Doagh Primary School football team. We have also donated bedding plants to the school and pupils Hayley Crowe and Carter Johnston won our colouring competition and helped us officially declare the store open. Our community engagement also sees us supporting the Mid Antrim Animal Sanctuary, and we’ve provided sanitising stations to the Doagh Village Community Association. We also look forward to supporting EUROSPAR’s charity partner, Cancer Fund for Children with initiatives throughout the year.

“We’re delighted to be open and bring even more great value offers, services and facilities to the village.”

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