The new Spar store opened at the Triangle as scheduled on Thursday morning (Nov 25), just five days after the Co-op closed for the last time at the same Manor Farm Road premises.
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Team Spar on opening morning at Bitterne Park Triangle
Mince pies with smiles were handed out to early customers, and shelves looked largely restocked following the run-down as the Co-op prepared to quit the Triangle.
“This was one of a few stores we’ve taken over. They came on the market and obviously it was of interest to us,” Spar area manager Martin Sanger told bitternepark.info.
“The opportunity came along and we grabbed the opportunity.”
Asked what change he thought local people would see now the shop is operated by Spar, he said the benefit is that individual Spar shops have a lot more freedom in what they stock, and can react to customer need.
“We’ve put [in a] range [that] we believe has improved on the Co-op range. We’ve got all the same products but we’ve also introduced Costa Coffee, Dunkin’ Donuts. I believe we’ve got a much better food to go range, and we’ll obviously have a different offer package, but that for us is what we’ll bring that was different from the Co-op.”
He said, though, that the range would be “a learning curve”.
“But we’ve put in from our experience what we believe will go well, but we’re ready to adapt that and move things if we need to.”
He also said that overall Spar’s pricing is “very competitive” with the Co-op.
The Deliveroo food delivery service, which was popular from the Co-op, is also shortly launching from the new Spar, and the cash machine is set to stay.
As reported, the Co-op shut on Saturday after well over a century of operations at the Triangle.
Martin said that the Co-op staff team had transferred to Spar on their existing hours, contracts and wages.
Co-op signage removed during the refit
Person walks past Triangle Spar during refit