Sainsbury’s opens brand-new store in Desborough
Sainsbury’s opened the doors to its newest store this morning as it welcomed the first customers to Sainsbury’s Desborough Harborough Road, in Northamptonshire.
The highly anticipated ‘Neighbourhood Hub’ format store has been under construction since last summer, following an overwhelmingly positive response from the local community during the consultation process that proceeded the store’s planning application.
MP for Kettering Philip Hollobone joined colleagues, customers and local councillors to cut the ribbon and celebrate the store’s launch. Located on Cockrel Rise in the north of Desborough, the forty colleagues that make up the new team at the 11,000 sq. ft. store will help and serve customers between 7am and 10pm Monday to Saturday and from 10am to 4pm on Sundays.
In line with Sainsbury’s ambition to become net zero in its own operations by 2035, the Desborough store has been designed to be as energy efficient as possible. It will be powered by 100% renewable electricity and will not rely on any natural gas to meet its heating requirements. It will also feature solar panels on the roof to help the store generate its own electricity, 100% LED lighting, rainwater harvesting equipment and a single heat pump system that keeps chilled cabinets, cold stores, and heating systems at the right temperature all year long. The store been designed to achieve a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating and its Energy Performance Certificate has been rated ‘A’.
Patrick Dunne, Sainsbury’s Property Director, said: “This is an exciting moment for us as we open our first purpose-built Sainsbury’s Neighbourhood Hub store, creating forty new jobs and providing customers in Desborough with a fantastic new place to do a weekly shop. I know the local community has been looking forward to this day for some time now and I feel sure they will be really pleased with what our newest Sainsbury’s store has to offer.”
Jay Lee, Sainsbury’s Desborough Road Store Manager, said: “My team and I are delighted to be welcoming our new customers today. We’ve been working hard to get everything ready for opening and we’re keen to hear what everyone thinks of the new store. Whether by providing great value, high quality products, brilliant colleague service or making a wider contribution to the local community, we’re ready to play our part in Desborough.”
