New Shrewsbury Lidl opens next to the New Meadow
Shrewsbury's latest supermarket opened its doors for the first time today.
After months of construction, Lidl opened to the public on Oteley Road this morning.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was carried out at 8am by Shrewsbury's mayor, Councillor Peter Nutting and England town crier Peter Taunton, who called members of the public to the new store next to Shrewsbury Town FC.
The supermarket was due to open in February but was hit by delays after work was halted last July when a contractor went in to administration.
The new store adds to the German company's existing portfolio of 670 and forms part of Lidl's growth plans which hope to see this increase to 1,500 stores in the future.
Lidl went through a protracted process to gain planning permission for the store, which is on land near the Montgomery Waters meadow, with councillors repeatedly deferring the application.
The application had also been the focus of a row with fellow food retailer Waitrose, which had planning permission to build a store near to the Wyevale Garden Centre on Oteley Road.
Waitrose warned that granting planning consent for the Lidl store would put its project in jeopardy.
The opening of the new supermarket has created 40 new jobs for the local community.
The store has a 1,424 sq metre sales area and features facilities such as an in-store bakery, longer-style tills with dual packing, customer toilets, baby changing and parking for both cars and bicycles.
Lidl UK’s regional head of property, Jo Hawley, said: “We would like to thank all those who have played a part in bringing this new Lidl store to Shrewsbury.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.”
Lidl UK has experienced continued growth over the years as consumers flock to the supermarket to discover its great value products – more than two thirds of which are British sourced - ranging from quality fruit and vegetables, to premium wines from its Wine Tour collections.
Its ongoing success shows no signs of slowing, with the latest Kantar Worldpanel results highlighting Lidl as the fastest growing supermarket in the UK with 9.1 per cent increase in sales year on year and market share of 5.4 per cent.
