2 days Ago By [email protected] (Coreena Ford)
Supermarket chain Co-op is set to create hundreds of new jobs across the UK amid plans to open 75 new stores this year. The new shops will be both Co-op estate stores and Co-op franchise stores, a sector the convenience retailer has pursued recently with strong growth. The company has also revealed that 80 existing shops – which aim to be community hubs by offering additional services including parcel collection and returns, and payment services – will have major refurbishments in 2025.
Plans in 2025 include up to 25 new Co-op operated stores, which form part of ambitions for 120 new stores over the next four years, with the first new Co-op stores to open in early in the new year at Salford Quays, The Anchorage; East Benton in Newcastle, and in Somerset, Kent and Cardiff. Meanwhile, up to 50 stores are expected to open and operate as a franchise, allowing the business to bring its products and the benefits of membership to more communities, as well as placing stores in locations where it may not otherwise be able to access. The move builds on franchise growth in 2024 which saw Co-op launch on more university campuses, open its first store in a hospital, as well as open on petrol forecourts in partnership with EG On The Move, and also launch a Co-op store at HMS Collingwood.
Stores set to re-launch following major makeovers in early 2025 include those in Exeter; Brighton; Bristol; Cambridgeshire; Hampshire; Avonmouth; Hereford and Clapham. Matt Hood, Co-op’s managing director, said: “We want everyone to have easy and convenient access to a Co-op store, wherever they live, and this year we are completely focused on achieving that through an ambitious and exciting new stores strategy. Not only are we a membership organisation owned by our six million members, we are experts in convenience shopping, where we combine great quality products, value and deals and ethical retailing with quick online delivery services, community participation and additional customer services.
"Our stores play an active role in local life, and are often a community hub, providing the products and services our members and customers want and need.” As part of the retailer’s commitments to carbon reduction, it has announced ambitions to install up to 76,000 solar panels on up to 700 of its sites across its food, funeralcare and logistic portfolio over the next three years. It is also on track to achieve reach its goal of growing to eight million members by 2030.
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