Telford Netto to become Morrisons

Telford's Netto store has closed but is to reopen next month as a Morrisons supermarket, it was revealed today. The Donnington store is believed to have closed on Saturday.

But bosses at Netto today said as part of the deal all of the staff had kept their jobs and would be working at the new store.

The supermarket is one of 16 of the former discount stores bought by Morrisons. It will be the second Morrisons store in Telford, with the other in Wellington.

Dalton Philips, chief executive of Morrisons, said: "These additional stores are an important next step in Morrisons' growth.

"We are building on our strategy to bring Morrisons' unique offer of freshly prepared, affordable food to more people in Britain.

"We look forward to welcoming the new colleagues employed at the Netto stores as they transfer to Morrisons."

Ciaran Gallimore has been named as the store's general manager.

He said: "I am absolutely thrilled to be taking up this position and offering shoppers in Telford an excellent supermarket and superb product range, in a great location.

"Telford deserves a fresh new supermarket and I am looking forward to serving the people of the local community."

The new store will open to the public in May.

Kirsten Howells, spokeswoman for Netto, said: "I can confirm that the store is now owned by Morrisons with all Netto store colleagues moving to Morrisons."

Morrisons entered into an agreement with Asda, which owns Netto, in January to acquire 120,000 sq ft of additional selling space through the purchase of 16 former Netto stores at a cost of more than £28 million.