Sainsbury’s has launched a total of seven stores showcasing its new Neighbourhood Hub offer. Upgrades to its existing Melbourne, Billingshurst, Whitstable High Street and Penwortham stores join new stores for Woodhall Spa, Midhurst and Bishop’s Waltham customers.
Sainsbury’s Neighbourhood Hub stores are a food-led extension of Sainsbury’s renowned convenience offer and are set up to serve longer missions due to their size and location. The vision for Neighbourhood Hub stores is to be the best “in neighbourhood” 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 now enjoy a larger selection of products to choose from in a larger variety of sizes, such as more meat and fish products, wider selection of vegetarian and vegan options, new meal kit ranges, flower bouquets and cosmetics.
The renovation work and new store offerings have been rolled out to provide customers with greater convenience and choice in the villages. Most of the Hubs feature a new Argos Click & Collect facility, and by bringing together the much-loved brands of Sainsbury’s and Argos under one roof, customers will be able to collect their Argos shopping whilst picking up their groceries. Customers can enter their Argos collection number on the in-store to table to request their Argos purchase and a colleague will collect it for them.
Alongside these new Hub stores, a further four Sainsbury’s convenience stores have launched additional Neighbourhood Hub product ranges. These range improvementsat Ascot, Bishopston, and two in Hackney, 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. Sainsbury’s now has seven Neighbourhood Hub stores: Penwortham, Whitstable High Street, Billingshurst, Melbourne Derby Road, Bishop’s Waltham, Midhurst and Woodhall Spa.
Woodhall Spa was the pilot for the new format and went live in 2019. Sainsbury’s opened both Bishop’s Waltham and Midhurst in November 2020 and refurbished Melbourne Derby Road and Billingshurst in March 2021. Whitstable High Street and Penwortham were upgraded in May 2021.