Morrisons has opened its Stirchley store doors to the public today (09/07), creating 160 jobs for local people.
The store is based on the site of a former Central England CoOp and will employ a team of around two hundred in full time and part time roles, joining the supermarkets 120,000 staff across the UK.
The closure of the Central England Coop store brought an end to a historic presence the co-operative had in Stirchley, after originally forming in the area in 1875.
Prior to opening, Morrisons spoke to locals to ask them what features they wanted to see in the new store. They said it had to be simple to get around with useful services, easy parking and a wide range of products from the local area.
In response, the new store will stock locally sourced products including beers from the nearby Birmingham Brewing Company, G Simmons & Sons pork scratchings and local bacon, sausage and ham from FA Gill.
Other key features of the new store include:
- A completely redesigned Cafe with additional seating that will serve a wide selection of food and drinks throughout the day
- Take-away freshly cooked hot pizza
- Morrisons signature Fish and Butcher counters
- A Florist selling bouquets as well as single stem flowers which can be made into an arrangement for any occasion
- A wide selection of Free From products.
As part of Morrisons efforts to support the community, the Stirchley store will also be playing its part to help restock local food banks with deliveries of essential items such as bread, pasta and fruit & veg. The food donated to the store will be distributed to food banks by the Morrisons Stirchley Community Champion – Jo Cartmell.
The store also has a Community Room offering a free meeting space for local groups such as new parents, charities, book clubs, craft groups and gaming communities. The room is designed to help community groups deal with the increasing cost of booking meeting spaces. Groups that would like to book the room can email Jo on champion.stirchley@morrisonsplc.co.uk.
Store Manager Andrew Faull said: “We’d like to thank the local community for their support over the last few months. Today, they get a brand new Morrisons store with skilled foodmaking at the heart of it and plenty of useful services. We are also pleased to be able to help the local food banks and play our part in feeding the nation.”
