Co-op to open in January at new £4.5m retail park
Co-op chief says new store will be a slow burner to start with
A RETAIL park being built on a main road in Burbage is set to open in January.
Heart of England Co-operative Society will be running the sevenoutlet centre in Rugby Road, on the roundabout near the railway line.
The group is spending more than £4.5 million on the project, which will include a Co-op food store and a Greggs.
Co-op chiefs plan store in January 2020.
Other groups moving in include Topps Tiles, Toolstation, the Salvation Army, which is opening a donation centre, tanning group Consol and Johnsons cleaners, who used to have a base there.
Ali Kurji, chief executive of the society, said: “We will get a lot of footfall from the houses across the road and people going back in the evening.
“There’s a reasonable amount of parking. to open their
“It’s a question of, you pop in and get what you want, pick it up and go home. You don’t have to spend a lot of time in a convenience store.”
At the Co-op store, which will create 15 jobs, there are plans to hand out goody bags to the first 100 customers.
“It will take time, any development is like a slow burner to start with.
“People need to get know about it”, said Mr Kurji.
“Hopefully, drivers on either side of the roundabout will notice it. People going to the Hansom Cab pub will see it.”
Plans have been filed for a totem sign at the entrance displaying the names of the shops.
Heart of England formerly ran the to Co-op store in Castle Street, Hinckley. A department store with homeware and electrical items, it closed in January 2016. Mr Kurji said: “It was a very painful decision for me and our directors to exit from that business model.
“The whole landscape has changed. There’s so much online, with eBay and Amazon. It was something I did not wish to do. I could not carry on in non-food.
“I always had on my mind if things worked out to come back into Hinckley. I wanted some kind of presence in Hinckley in the food business. I’m pleased we have come back.”
He said the group was funding the project entirely from its own resources, with a record level of investment.
Margins are coming under increasing pressure in the food market and Mr Kurji anticipates future competition from discount giants such as Aldi and Lidl.
He said: “My worry is, at the moment, Aldi and Lidl both operate in large stores, but already they are going into local stores. They will come in our region. Aldi’s head office is in Atherstone. They must be looking to.”
Aldi and Lidl both opened a new store in Hinckley in August and Aldi has another superstore on the A5, outside of the town.
The retail park’s seven units will be spread across three buildings with dedicated parking, bin stores, a cash machine and cycle shelters.
We will get a lot of footfall from houses across the road and people going back in the evening