The Heart of England Co-operative Society has opened a new £3m purpose-built store in Bishop’s Itchington.
Situated in Gaydon Road, the new 3,000 sq ft store is over twice the size of the previous 1,300 sq ft site, and is the most environmentally friendly of all the Society’s 37 food outlets.
The expansion has created more jobs with staff numbers now totalling 17 compared with nine at the old store.
In line with Heart of England Co-op policy, local traders were also actively recruited to help with the building work.
The store offers a variety of services including a Costa Coffee machine, a Tango Ice Blast machine and a Tropical Ice slush machine, as well as an array of hot and cold food.
Other features include an in-store bakery, manned check-outs, four self-scanning tills, an ATM cash machine, free wi-fi, Amazon lockers, a food bank bin and even a digital media community wall.
It boasts an energy-saving Smart LED system that activates lighting in the aisles only when shoppers are present.
Sophisticated sensors mean that lights at the front of the building will not operate when there is sufficient sunlight flooding in through the entrance.
The store offically opened on 20 July and customers were greeted with free Costa coffee and toasted crumpets served directly from a Warburtons van.
Face painting and bucket drumming sessions were also laid on for families to enjoy, adding to the carnival atmosphere of the day.
Steve Browne general manager of the Heart of England Co-op’s food division was delighted with the customer feedback: “The public reaction was very positive and most encouraging. Having that much extra space at our disposal has enabled us to massively increase our offering in the village.
“It really is a vast improvement with just about everything being either greener, bigger or better. Apart from a fantastic range of meat, dairy and grocery products, we have been able to significantly increase our selection of frozen food, chilled food and chilled alcohol.”
Outside customers will discover a much larger car park with rapid electric car charging points and parking bays for the disabled. The entire area is protected by security lighting and CCTV.
Heart of England Co-op’s chief executive Ali Kurji said he is particularly proud of the store’s impressive green credentials: “The environment is a massive consideration to us. This store will run off solar power with no natural gas being used at all. We have invested in solar panels at 20 of our other stores and at our support centre in Coventry. The results have surpassed our expectations. This will be a very energy efficient store with refrigeration and ventilation systems using low GWP (Global Warming Potential) gasses which have minimal impact on the planet.
“So many decisions have been made with the environment in mind. Apart from the infrastructure, the green touches even extend to many of the products we choose. Great use has been made of recyclable materials.”
To mark the official opening, pupils from Bishop’s Itchington Primary School were invited to take part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony. At the same time, the school received a £500 donation from the Heart of England Co-op’s Helping Hearts scheme.
The Carl Lewis Foundation was also handed £500, while the Bishop Itchington’s football and cricket teams were given £345 each.
A collection was made during the day for Macmillan Cancer Support, the Heart of England Co-op’s current corporate charity.
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