Waitrose - Stores

Stores

Waitrose branches are largely concentrated in the south-east of England and in Greater London. In 2003, its northernmost English branch was in Newark, Nottinghamshire. Outside major cities, stores are often located in smaller settlements between larger population centres, such as at Newport (sited between Telford and Stafford) and Kenilworth (between Leamington Spa and Coventry).

Waitrose stores vary considerably in size. For example, the smallest branch, little Waitrose Fitzroy Street, Cambridge, occupies 3,000 sq ft (280 m2) of retail space and the largest, Southend-on-Sea, over 56,000 sq ft (5,200 m2). The average Waitrose occupies a retail space of around 18,000 sq ft (1,700 m2).

Waitrose offer a self-service system known as 'Quick Check'. Customers must register to use the system and upon entering the store they will be issued with a hand-held PDA with built-in barcode scanner, allowing them to scan and pack items as they are taken from the shelf; unpacked items from the produce and bakery departments can be self-weighed and labelled, and then scanned, at self-service scales located in their respective departments. The customer then pays his/her bill at the 'Quick Check' counter by returning the PDA to the cashier terminal, which will ring up the total bill. If customers have a Partnership card they can swipe this at a card reader and pay without any other assistance.

Internationally, Waitrose holds a licensing agreement with Spinneys of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which operate two purpose-built branches, of which the first opened in the Dubai Mall in October 2008.

Waitrose products are also supplied to Manx retailer Shoprite (Isle of Man). As well in the Falkland Islands it supplies to the Falkland Islands Company (FIC). In addition, it supplies its products to stores in Australia, Barbados, Bermuda, Cyprus, Dubai, Falkland Islands, Grenada, India, Kuwait, New Zealand, Qatar, Tortola, Trinidad, Saudi Arabia and St Lucia.