Waitrose plans to open its first new stores since 2018, as the upmarket supermarket chain invests £1bn into expanding its presence on the UK high street (Financial Times £).
Customers of Waitrose can expect champagne fridges, dry-aged beef cabinets and new hot food partnerships under a multimillion-pound plan to upgrade stores (The Times £).
The upmarket grocery chain unveiled a revamped outlet in Finchley Road, north London, on Wednesday, kicking off a new phase of expansion with its first new store in six years in Hampton Hill, west London, by the end of this year (The Guardian).
A spokesperson for Waitrose told The Mail: “We are responding to the way our customers are shopping with us.”
It marks a major turning point for Waitrose, which has not opened any new stores for the past six years amid pressure to cut costs. The convenience shop openings will mark one of the biggest expansions in the supermarket chain’s 120-year history (Telegraph £).
As The Grocer reported, the major focus of the new trial stores has been on improving levels of “localisation”, to ensure stores are tailored to the needs of shoppers locally. Read more in The Grocer.
An investigation into loyalty card schemes by consumer group Which? has found that many of the discounts are “misleading” or “an outright rip-off”, particularly at Boots and Superdrug (The Times £).
Boots was responsible for one of the most egregious examples of “dubious discounts” highlighted by the investigation into the pricing history of almost 12,000 products on a “snapshot day” in May (The Guardian).
Underperforming Asda continued to make headlines as The Guardian picks up on the latest NielsenIQ data showing market share at the chain hit a “new nadir”. Sales fell 6.4% in the three months to 10 August, equivalent to more than £2bn in annual lost revenues, as it became the only member of the traditional ‘big four’ supermarkets to see sales shrink.
Market researcher NIQ said sales at supermarkets grew 5.5% year-on-year in the four week period, against growth of 3.6% in last month’s report (The Mail).
The Telegraph (£) picks up The Grocer’s story that Marks & Spencer is pushing to remove additives from its ready meals and sandwiches amid an outcry over so-called ultra-processed foods.
Self-checkout shoppers have admitted they use the tills to steal from stores, according to a major poll by Ipsos, with one in eight adults (13%) saying they had selected a cheaper item on a self-service till than the one they were buying (Telegraph £).
Wilko will open another new store since it was taken over and rebranded following its dramatic collapse last year (Mail).
Brazil has awarded special protected status to Scotch whisky in a moveexpected to give distillers better access to South America’s largest economy (Sky News).
Beyoncé has launched an American whiskey with Moet Hennessy (Mail).
China has launched an anti-dumping investigation into imported European dairy products, in the latest escalation of a trade dispute with the EU (Financial Times £).
China will examine 20 subsidy programmes supporting the production of milk, cream and cheese in eight EU countries including subsidies for dairy storage, young farmers’ allowance and supplementary income and subsidy schemes in the common agricultural policy (The Guardian).
The newly-announced boss of Starbucks, Brian Niccol, has come under fire after it was revealed that he will commute the almost 1,000 miles (1,600km) from his family home in Newport Beach, California to the firm’s headquarters in Seattle on a corporate jet (BBC News).
A Big Read in The Financial Times (£) looks at the global power of Big Agriculture’s lobbying. “Behind the public image of farming lies a vast industry adept at securing subsidies and exemptions from environmental measures,” the paper writes.
Jeremy Clarkson has renamed his new pub The Farmer’s Dog and will open it on Friday, but locals fear that it will cause traffic chaos on the surrounding rural roads (The Times £).
The German dynasty behind the Leibniz biscuit brand has admitted that it supported the Nazi regime and used forced labour during the Second World War (The Times £).
McDonald’s will open more than 200 new restaurants in the UK and Ireland over the next four years as part of a £1bn expansion aimed at boosting the fast-food chain’s presence on the high street (The Financial Times £).
The plan marks the US company’s largest expansion programme in the UK for more than 20 years and is backed by a £1bn investment by the fast food chain and its franchisees with a focus on high street locations (The Guardian).
Alongside new venues, McDonald’s will also upgrade its existing 1,500-strong restaurant estate. Read the full story in The Grocer.
America’s largest department store chain Macy’s has lowered its sales outlook for the rest of the year as cautious consumers cut back on spending (The Times £).
Shares of US retail chain Target soared after it reversed a sales slump and issued a brighter profit outlook, in results that suggested American consumers were still shopping despite cost pressures on their finances (The Financial Times £).
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