Sainsbury’s has opened its first airport store, at Edinburgh Airport, and will target more “travel hubs” as part of its c-store expansion.
Located landside, the 24-hour Sainsbury’s Local opened on 12 December, replacing previous tenant M&S.
The c-store will stock a range of Sainsbury’s meal deals, bakery, fresh fruit and veg, and chilled meals tailored to travellers. It will also offer a “bespoke” range of locally sourced Scottish products. A click & collect service will also be available, enabling travellers to order Argos, Tu and Habitat items to the store.
Sainsbury’s first announced the opening in October, as part of a renewed offensive to expand its c-store estate that began in March 2023. Sainsbury’s aims to open roughly 20-25 new convenience stores each year.
To date, the majority of Sainsbury’s c-stores are located in sneighbourhood locations, but it would now increasingly target travel locations such as airports and railway stations, said Sainsbury’s director of property, procurement & EV ventures Patrick Dunne.
“We’re very excited to launch Sainsbury’s Local in a whole new setting for the first time today with the opening of our Edinburgh Airport store,” he said.
“We want to build on the resounding success of our other travel hub stores, for example in UK train stations, and we’ll be listening closely to feedback from customers in the coming weeks to learn more about what they want to see from this kind of Local.
“We then hope to bring Sainsbury’s unbeatable combination of outstanding value, quality food and great service to more airport locations in the UK,” he added.
In October, Sainsbury’s completed a major programme to overhaul its c-store estate as part of its Next Level strategy, launched in February.
It included a complete “rebalance” of the ranges stocked in its 800 stores to ensure they better suit the demands of shoppers locally. In many cases Sainsbury’s increased the number of lines available, for example by ramping up the number of chilled and food-to-go SKUs. It also adjusted layouts and spacing in many stores.
That was followed in November by the notable rollout of Aldi Price Match to Local stores – the first time any supermarket added the price mechanism to its c-stores.
Read more: Sainsbury’s Aldi Price Match convenience store move is smart
Jordan Mudie, Sainsbury’s Edinburgh Airport store manager, said: “My team and I are thrilled to be open for business in Edinburgh Airport from today – after months of work to get everything ready, we’re ready to help and serve our new customers 24 hours a day.
“We’re passionate about providing good food for all of us and we’re delighted to be able to bring Sainsbury’s tasty, great-value products and helpful service to customers form this fantastic airport location. I’m really grateful for all the support we’ve received along the way and I hope everyone likes the new store as much as we do.”
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