Waitrose makes move on city (From Oxford Mail)

Waitrose makes move on city

7:01pm Friday 16th January 2009 in News By Chris Walker

High-end supermarket Waitrose is to open its first Oxford branch, it was confirmed last night.

The grocery giant will take over the Somerfield store in Old High Street, Headington, after closing a deal to purchase 13 branches of the chain.

However, the deal won’t be finalised until March, when the Office of Fair Trading is expected to rubberstamp a £1.6bn takeover of Somerfield’s 800 stores by the Co-op.

The 64 staff currently employed at the Somerfield store will transfer to Waitrose as part of the deal, but the supermarket said it would create more jobs.

Pending approval, Headington’s Somerfield will close in April and the new store will open the following month Local traders welcomed the news and said it would reinvigorate the area.

Mary Goodchild, a shop assistant at nearby clothing store Monaco, said: “We’re really pleased about it.

“This is just what Headington needs.

“It should bring people from all over Oxford into the area and if some of those people browse at our shop and then come in and buy something it will be excellent.”

Lucy Lee-Allen, co-owner of the Frog Orange gadget shop in The Parade, said: “It’s a great move. It’s going to lift up the image of Headington a great deal.”

Gareth Jones, manager of Up and Running sport store, said: “This will benefit the place vastly and I think it will make Headington a bit more cosmopolitan.”

Headington is already served by a large Co-op supermarket and many thought it might have to be sold after its takeover of Somerfield because of competition laws following the £1.6bn buy-out deal.

However, the Co-op store in London Road is owned by a different co-operative group and the sale has instead been made for commercial reasons.

Waitrose spokesman Nina Arnott said: “It’s been an aim of ours to be in Oxford for a while.

“It has just been a matter of biding our time and waiting for the right store."