Store opens on corporation site

Lidl has opened its second East Kilbride store with the creation of 40 local jobs.

The discount supermarket chain opened its 99th Scottish store on Churchill Avenue on Thursday on the former Atholl House site – once the home of East Kilbride Development Corporation.

Ribbon-cutting duties were carried out by South Lanarkshire depute provost Collette Stevenson assisted by store manager Graeme Young and customers were piped into the store by members of EK Pipe Band.

Award-winning products were sampled throughout the day and there were a whole host of exclusive deals and offers on selected products for the first week of opening.

The new supermarket forms part of the company’s ongoing expansion plans in Scotland and has created approximately 40 new full- and parttime jobs for the local community.

The Churchill Avenue store has a 1,325 square metre sales area and features facilities such as an in-store bakery, longer-style tills with dual packing, customer toilet, baby changing and ample parking for both cars and bicycles.

The store expansion will be supported by the supermarket’s new distribution centre opening at Eurocentral, near Motherwell, in November, which will be Lidl’s largest site in the UK.

Lidl GB’s regional head of property, Gordon Rafferty, said:“We would like to thank all those who have played a part in bringing this new Lidl store to East Kilbride.

“It is great for us to be able to create more jobs and investment opportunities in the area, and we can’t wait to start serving our multi-award winning products to the local community.”

The news follows Lidl’s announcement last week that it is set to open 12 new stores across Scotland creating 500 jobs, while regenerating eight of its existing stores, over the next three years.

Lidl’s first EK store opened at Hairmyres in 2014.