Apparently, Waitrose are planning on spending millions revitalising the Somerfield store in Stamford prior to its opening in June.Waitrose purchased the shop in West Street from the Co-Operative group, who were offloading a number of Somerfield stores it had acquired because of the rules on competition.
The new Waitrose Store will be open for business on Thursday 11th June after a three wee refurbishment of the store, at a cost of millions of pounds. The money isn't only going on making it look better, though, as some of it will be spent on training the 87 store staff members, all of whom have been offered jobs.
The Somerfield Store will close on Thursday May 21st when they will hand over the keys to Waitrose, who apparently can't wait to get started in Stamford. There will be fish, cheese, meat and deli counters as well as a bakery section at the new shop, all manned by fully trained specialists.
Sainsbury's are also coming to Stamford - they've had the go ahead to convert and extend the Focus shop on the Markham Retail Park, and are plannign to create 230 new jobs there. They're not telling when work's going to start there though.
So Stamford will now have 3 high-end supermarkets, including the Marks and Spencers Food Hall. I guess that with Morrisons and Lidle and the High Street Tesco's there will be plenty of choice for everyone.