Waitrose opens its new Shrewsbury store

Upmarket retailer Waitrose opened its doors in Shrewsbury this morning.

The former Burger King in Pride Hill and the old Post Office site in St Mary's Street has been empty for several years.

The shop opened its doors at 7am and Barbara Parker, store manager, said there was a real buzz.

She said: "We're absolutely delighted to have opened today.

"It's very positive and in the recent weeks lots of people have been telling us how they couldn't wait for the store to open.

"We're all very excited here and the partners have been training for a couple of weeks, so they're fresh and raring to go.

"We're inviting everyone to come in and explore. This is a convenience store as opposed to a supermarket, but we think it will be a great success."

Sandra Hannan, 46, of Mardol, the first customer through the doors, said: "I've been waiting for a store like this to open in the town centre for years. I'm very excited its here and I will be visiting every day."

Fellow early riser Mandy Horvath, of Meole, said: "It's very reasonably priced and I think there will be a real buzz in the store later today. I think it will be a great success."

Brendan O'Sullivan, site construction manager, said: "It's been an amazing transformation.

"When we started work it was a very old and run-down building and compared to how it used to look the change is remarkable.

"A lot of hard work has gone into the project and we hope the people of Shrewsbury enjoy it."