Waitrose Opens First New Supermarket in Eight Years as £1bn Bet

Waitrose opens its first new supermarket in eight years on Thursday, in Cricklewood, north London, as the first concrete move in a £1bn investment plan. A second full-size supermarket follows next month in Hale Barns, Greater Manchester. After that, four smaller stores arrive next year: a supermarket in Oakham, Rutland, and three convenience shops in Bedminster (Bristol), Chalk Farm (London) and Springstead Village (Cambridge).

For a chain that runs more than 300 supermarkets but hasn't built a new full-size one since 2017, that's a genuine shift in posture. Growth is back on the menu.

What's driving the £1bn plan?

The Cricklewood opening executes a commitment Waitrose made in 2024: up to four large supermarkets and 100 convenience stores over five years. The plan also includes refurbishing existing outlets with meat, fish and sushi counters, on-site bakeries and fine wine sections.

This year alone, the company plans to refurbish 29 stores. The refurbishment programme matters as much as the new builds — it pushes the premium positioning that separates Waitrose from discounters and, increasingly, from a resurgent Marks & Spencer.

Retail director Tina Mitchell framed the new stores as the brand's shop window. "Our supermarkets provide the ultimate showcase for everything that sets Waitrose apart – from our unmatched quality and industry-leading welfare standards to the expert service of our partners," she said.

Leadership changed hands in January, when former Tesco executive Tom Denyard took charge. The store-opening pace and refurbishment schedule land on his watch.

Where the money stands

The expansion isn't riding on a wave of easy profit. Waitrose sales rose 4% in the six months to 1 August. Underlying operating profit fell £7m to £103m over the same period, as the company spent on holding prices down and improving its loyalty scheme. A summer heat wave added higher energy costs to the squeeze.

The parent tells a tougher story. The John Lewis Partnership, owned by its staff, reported a £98m pre-tax loss in the half-year to 1 August. Department store sales fell despite heavy investment in updating the outlets. The partnership has also been cutting the number of staff it employs directly as it tries to trim costs.

So the £1bn is being deployed from a position of strain, not strength. That's the risk practitioners should register: this is a turnaround bet on physical retail while the group bleeds money.

Who's applying the pressure?

Marks & Spencer. Under some measures, M&S now holds a higher share of the grocery market than Waitrose after opening a string of new food-led outlets. The upmarket grocery niche that Waitrose once had more room in is now a two-horse race, and the other horse is spending too.

Waitrose's own recent past hasn't helped. Sales were hit by IT problems that left gaps on shelves — the kind of operational stumble that hands customers to rivals in a low-loyalty segment. The latest figures from market analysts Worldpanel by Numerator show Waitrose is now holding its market share. Stabilising, in other words, but not yet gaining ground.

The union deal that arrived at the same moment

On Wednesday, the John Lewis Partnership signed its first company-wide union recognition deal. The collective agreement with Usdaw, the shopworkers' union, lands just ahead of new rights of union access in workplaces that take effect at the end of this month.

The timing is not accidental. Employers across the UK are adjusting to the incoming access rules, and the partnership moved first with a voluntary framework rather than waiting for one to be imposed.

Usdaw general secretary Joanne Thomas said: "Usdaw already has members working within the business and this agreement will strengthen that presence and help us in supporting and representing members across the partnership. We now look forward to growing our membership and influence within the partnership and to working with the partnership's management on finalising the details of how the agreement will work in practice."

For a staff-owned business, formal union recognition closes a long-running oddity — the partners who own the firm will now also have collective representation machinery. Expect the practical details of the agreement to be negotiated over the coming months.

What does this change for shoppers and rivals?

For shoppers in Cricklewood and Hale Barns, it means a new premium full-size option — still rare in a decade when most grocers have favoured convenience formats and online capacity over big-box openings.

For rivals, it signals that Waitrose intends to defend its share with bricks, not just price cuts. The test is whether a chain earning £103m half-year operating profit can fund 100 convenience stores, four supermarkets and dozens of refurbishments before M&S tightens its grip on the premium food shopper. The Cricklewood tills open Thursday; the answer will take longer.