Iceland has opened the first of its new Swift convenience store formats in Newcastle upon Tyne.
The trial store, which opened on Thursday, is a completely new format for the retailer located in a refurbished and refitted unit formerly occupied by one of its Iceland fascia stores on Four Lane Ends in Benton, Newcastle.
The 1,700 sq ft store offers double the range of a small Iceland store, with nearly 3,000 lines on offer covering grocery, chilled, fresh, frozen, alcohol, cigarettes and tobacco, and food to go.
The retailer said its new concept is designed to “provide a simple, easy-to-shop food store with the watchwords: fast, fresh, local” and flagged the use of vertical refrigeration to offer a ”bigger and better shopping experience with thousands of lines stocked”.
The store has 12 employees transferred over from Iceland to the new brand and will be open Monday to Sunday, 7am to 10pm.
Iceland head of space and format development Matt Downes said: “Today’s launch is the start of a really exciting concept and we’re thrilled to be opening our first site in Newcastle. The store is located on a very busy road, next to a major Metro hub with free parking outside: it seemed the perfect location for a convenience store trial.”
Managing director Richard Walker added: “Swift has a focus on being fast, fresh and local. Our last ‘one store trial’ of a new store format was The Food Warehouse in 2014 and we now have 140 stores. If this trial resonates with consumers there is potential to expand it both within the existing Iceland store estate and beyond to expand our existing network of stores in almost 1,000 communities across the UK.”
No comments yet