THE Food Warehouse has created 30 new jobs for the local grocery retail sector at a store in Co. Antrim.
The opening is a first for the brand in Northern Ireland, which is part of the Iceland Foods Group, and has seen it invest close to £1m in a flagship store for the area.
The supermarket is based at Longwood Retail Park, Newtownabbey and the new roles are in addition to just under 3,000 employees across the UK.
The 9,500 sq ft site is the 121st store opened in The Food Warehouse’s six-year history, making it the fastest growing supermarket chain launched in the UK this century.
Newtownabbey store will be continuing the brand’s mission to offer shoppers all the great value of a wholesale store without the need for membership, in an open plan, easy-to-shop environment.
Richard Walker, Managing Director at The Food Warehouse said: “Since the first door opened back in 2014, The Food Warehouse has grown from strength to strength, exceeding our expectations.
“Moving into Northern Ireland is a huge landmark for the business, as it continues to perform extremely well. We’re proud to work with local suppliers in Northern Ireland across our fresh, frozen and grocery products.”
Fresh, frozen and ambient food deals are available to customers across more than 3,000 product lines in each store, as well as exclusive ‘When it’s Gone, it’s Gone’ deals and homeware items.
The bulk offering is intended to offer consumers great value and small businesses easy to access, low cost supplies.
Walker continued: “It’s incredibly important to innovate and understand what their customers want, which is how The Food Warehouse came to be.
“As the future of the high street remains uncertain and more and more bricks-and-mortar stores lie empty, there’s a responsibility to the government, but also retailer, to rethink how they operate in the increasingly competitive grocery retail sector.”
The Newtownabbey store manager, Stephen Nixon said: “Our opening has been a great success, is fantastic for the Newtownabbey area and the whole team has really enjoyed meeting people from our local community.”
For more information on The Food Warehouse, visit www.thefoodwarehouse.com/corporate
