THE CO-OPERATIVE AT COUNDON WELCOMES CUSTOMERS THROUGH THE DOOR FOLLOWING £508,000 REFIT

Sam Buxton, Area Manager of the Heart of England Co-operative Society (front, centre), with colleagues at the Norman Place Road store (from left) – Pamela Sharman – Store Manager; Dawn Williams – Baker; Kay Daniel – Supervisor; Maureen Gallagher – Sales Assistant; Mark Davies – Deputy Store Manager.

Friday 04, December 2020

THE CO-OPERATIVE AT COUNDON WELCOMES CUSTOMERS THROUGH THE DOOR FOLLOWING £508,000 REFIT

The Heart of England Co-operative Society is continuing its programme of investment with a £508,000 re-fit of its Coundon food store in Norman Place Road.

It is the 10th capital project undertaken by the Society’s Food Division since the beginning of the first lockdown in March. It takes the total invested in Society-owned branches of The Co-operative since that time to almost £1.7 million.

An enhanced fresh foods range to include Rollover hot dogs and a selection of hot and cold drinks including Costa Coffee, F’Real milk shakes and Tango Ice Blast are among the new additions.

The store has also been given a fresh look to house an extended choice of beers, wines and spirits, self-scan tills for customers and a foodbank facility for FareShare – a charity championed by England International Marcus Rashford, which works to combat food poverty and food wastage.

The store also offers a selection of locally-sourced produce as part of the Society’s Local @ Heart campaign, giving shoppers the chance to provide much-needed support to local businesses. Among the local suppliers are Coventry-based Dhillon’s Brewery and Alcester-based Fatherson Bakery.

So far there are 350 different locally-produced products on Society shelves across the network – including sausages, crisps, oils, flowers, and beers, wines and spirits.

The Society is always keen to work with more local businesses who would like to see their own products on Society shelves.

The store has served the Coundon community for many years. It has become an increasingly important facility since the event of Covid, where an increasing number of shoppers started to realise the benefits of convenience shopping close to home.

The Society was among the first retailers in the country to introduce stringent safety measures to combat the spread of Covid, enabling customers to continue shopping in confidence, safe in the knowledge that they and Society staff alike were protected against its transmission.

Steve Browne, General Manager of the Society’s Food Division, said: “We are proud of our new-look store in Norman Place Road which we feel will give shoppers a more vibrant experience.

“We have implemented many of these new features in some of our most recently opened or most recently refitted stores. They are proving a huge success, meeting the needs of our members and customers and giving them added choice.”

The Society supports local suppliers wherever possible – from the produce on the shelves through to lighting and refrigeration – to reduce its carbon footprint.

To further reduce its carbon footprint the Society uses energy efficient lighting, heating and refrigeration in all of its new developments.

In October the Society’s new-look Earlsdon food store was unveiled following a £664,000 refit.

Other projects completed at branches of The Co-operative since lockdown include Allesley Old Road and Tile Hill in Coventry, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Cedar Road and Coniston Way in Nuneaton, Warwick Gates, Wellesbourne and Gun Hill.

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