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Expansion has proved a strain for Waitrose but its personnel and systems have more than kept up as and David felwick tells Julian Hunt
Ask David Felwick where he sees the Waitrose business going next and he'll point to the map stuck on the wall of his tiny office.
As you would expect, the Home Counties are smothered with colourful pins representing Waitrose supermarkets. But take a closer look and you will see there are actually pins dotted about all over the place -- a sign of how far the company has come.
Felwick's point is simple: the Waitrose brand has stretched across the country--from Saltash to Newark; from Monmouth to Norwich -- and as and of the business he sees no reason why this expansion should not continue in the future. "I don't think there is a particular geographical limit to where Waitrose can trade in the UK;' says Felwick.
"There is a fair amount of the UK where Waitrose is not represented. Our reputation has never been stronger and we are much more recognised country wide than we ever have been."
This ambition explains why Waitrose was so keen to join the auction for Somerfield's better supermarkets earlier this year -- and why it was so chuffed to have bagged 11 of the stores it wanted.
The size of the acquisition was surprising, if only because Waitrose has traditionally built from scratch and has tended to open only a handful of new branches each year. But Felwick says it was a unique opportunity that Waitrose would have been foolish to pass up.
And with six newbuilds also in the pipeline, it meant the chain could embark on its biggest ever store opening programme -- one that will see it end the year with 136 shops.
Impressive stuff. But Felwick is the first to admit there is plenty of risk associated with a programme of this scale. He says the Somerfield acquisition has put a strain on every department from training and personnel to logistics (which will really feel the strain in the run up to Christmas?.
"I think we accepted that if we got all or a high proportion of the...