Holland & Barrett is pushing further into traditional grocery categories with a trial of pick’n’mix and novel food dispensers at its largest-ever new store in Richmond.

The 2,600 sq ft shop, which opened this week, features peanut butter and olive oil dispensers. Other novelties include a pick’n’mix for H&B’s 40 ­bestselling nuts, seeds and dried fruits, and a big jelly bean fixture that allows shoppers to pick from trays of 36 different flavours.

Inspired by the success of H&B’s pick’n’mix for cereals which has been introduced at six stores the idea behind the new dispensers is to give people more choice than is possible with pre-packed bags.

“We want to give the customer more control about what and how much they want,” said H&B spokesman Chris Rushbrooke.

New units have been ­designed to add a sense of theatre in store. This ­approach has extended to the shop window, where H&B has moved the emphasis away from value and introduced eye-catching fixtures including a retro sweet-weighing machine.

Other new ideas at the Richmond store include the introduction of sports equipment. H&B was aiming to build on its strength in sports nutrition by introducing complementary products such as dumbbells and sports watches, explained Rushbrooke.

In total, there are 3,400 new lines at the Richmond store across grocery, beauty, health and sports categories. The retailer will study the performance of these lines and the food dispensers over the coming months before deciding whether to introduce them elsewhere.

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