Sainsbury’s continues roll out of neighbourhood hub stores

The retailer has upgraded its existing stores in Melbourne in Derbyshire, Billingshurst in West Sussex, Whitstable High Street in Kent, and Penwortham in Lancashire. It has also added new stores in Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire, Midhurst in West Sussex, and Bishop’s Waltham in Hampshire.

Sainsbury’s says the vision for its neighbourhood hub stores is to “be the best one-stop offer, with product choice, and community at heart”. The new format also caters to the shift seen throughout the pandemic across customer behaviour towards longer shopping missions. Customers can enjoy a larger selection of products to choose from in a larger variety of sizes, such as more meat and fish products, a wider selection of vegetarian and vegan options, new meal kit ranges, flower bouquets, and cosmetics. Most of the hubs also feature a new Argos click-and-collect facility.

In addition, a further four Sainsbury’s convenience stores have launched additional neighbourhood hub product ranges. These range improvements at Ascot in Berkshire, Bishopston in Bristol, and two in Hackney in London, also serve longer shopping missions.

Sainsbury’s property director, Patrick Dunne, said: “Our newest hub stores look great and I’m sure our customers will enjoy doing more of their shopping closer to home. We’re continually investing in our store network and adapting our estate to ensure it best reflects our customers’ changing shopping habits and local demand. Our Neighbourhood Hubs have proved extremely popular and that has really motivated the team to open more for our customers through a combination of acquiring new sites and upgrading current stores.”

Sainsbury’s is working to open around 18 more neighbourhood hub stores over the next few years, in addition to investing in upgrading some of its current convenience stores into this new format and will keep customers updated on plans.