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Waitrose To Create 2,000 Supermarket Jobs

27 Feb 2015

Waitrose To Create 2,000 Supermarket Jobs

Waitrose will create a further 2,000 UK supermarket jobs this year as it opens over a dozen new stores and extends floor space at existing supermarkets and distribution centres.

Waitrose, under the ownership of the John Lewis Partnership, plans to open 14 new stores in 2015, with half of the new outlets to be traditional supermarkets and the other half to be the smaller format convenience stores which are growing in popularity amongst UK shoppers.

The Waitrose expansion and job creation comes at a time when some other grocery chains are consolidating, or even contracting, their existing store base in the UK. The high-end chain had a very busy period of trading of the Christmas holidays and is continuing its drive to beat off competition from traditional rivals such as Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s, as well as from discount supermarket chains like Aldi and Lidl.

In addition to the in-store supermarket roles at Waitrose to be generated this year, the company is also set to open the doors of a new e-commerce depot in Coulsdon, South London, next month. Around 500 jobs will be created at the new site, but only 100 net jobs will be advertised as the Coulsdon facility will be replacing an existing depot in Acton, West London which is already home to 400 jobs.

Waitrose currently has around 340 supermarkets but hopes to continue with its expansion plans and grow from its market share of just over 5 per cent of the UK grocery market.

Nigel Keen, director of development at Waitrose, was proud of his company’s fortunes but warned that competition was tough for supermarket jobs within their stores now:

“Our expansion story continues as we take the brand to more customers and invest in our omni-channel approach. Last year many of our new branches received than more than 10 applications for every vacancy - so we’re delighted to be able to create an additional 2,000 roles in 2015,” said Mr Keen.

Do you fancy working in a local Waitrose, Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Lidl, Aldi - or any of the other supermarket chains dotted about throughout the UK?

Supermarket jobs can have some great benefits and give you a good base of work experience to springboard you into a future career. If you aren’t sure where to start, then read our complete guide to UK supermarket jobs and apply for your first vacancy soon...

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