SandpiperCI will open the first of its Guernsey ‘Morrisons Daily’ stores at St Peter’s today at 8:00am. The current food hall sited on Route de Plaisance will be the first of six Morrisons supermarkets opening across the island over the coming weeks.
Sandpiper announced earlier this year it had reached a new franchise and wholesale supply agreement with Morrisons which is currently the fourth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. The new partnership will create around 20 new Guernsey job roles and see most of Sandpiper’s Channel Islands’ mini-supermarkets being rebranded into ‘Morrisons Daily’ stores.
The stores will be supplied with Morrisons’ own-brand merchandise, alongside other popular branded products as well as locally produced goods from more than 30 local suppliers, including: Guernsey Dairy, Beauvoir Nurseries, Bon Appetit, Castel Farm Eggs, Cimandis Bakery, Guernsey Mushrooms, Fresh Guernsey Herbs, Somerleigh Farm and many more.
Sandpiper’s CEO Tony O’Neill commented: “I think Guernsey consumers will be pleasantly surprised with the ‘Morrisons Daily’ brand. Morrisons’ substantial buying power means we’ve been able to lower our current Foodhall prices by at least 5% on an average shopping basket and significantly more on many of Morrisons’ own-label products. The opening of the first store in St Peter’s marks the start of a major investment programme in our Guernsey retail estate which will include complete new fit outs, major refurbishment and full Morrisons branding from store fascias to our colleagues’ uniforms. We’re also taking advantage of the refurbishment programme to upgrade our Wine Warehouse brand to enhance its retail offer.
“Morrisons is unique in making more than half its own fresh food products so we’ll be introducing the ‘Morrisons Makes It’ products with ranges of: fish, meat, bakery, fruit and veg. They’re also British farming’s biggest supermarket customer allowing our customers access to Morrisons’ branded fresh meat which is 100 per cent British.”
The increased sales of bakery products in Jersey necessitated the construction of a new central Morrisons bakery to cope with demand. To manage with the expected sales volume in Guernsey, a new bakery has been created at the St Peter’s store.
Also, as part of this agreement, Morrisons will supply Sandpiper with its recently-revived, Safeway branded products along with further national branded products for Sandpiper’s other fascia stores.
