The Co-op has opened a £1m ‘state-of-the-art’ store at the UK headquarters of technology giant Microsoft in Reading.
The 2,500 sq ft outlet, which opened last week, is the first time the Co-op has located a store inside another business and will exclusively serve 5,000 Microsoft employees at Thames Valley Park. It is also the first time Microsoft has opened its head office campus to another business.
“We’re delighted to partner with Microsoft on this new store, which we hope will be the first of many partnerships with external organisations,” said Co-op retail chief executive Steve Murrells.
“This is a state-of-the-art store and moving forward will be used to pilot future innovations for Co-op Food stores.
“I can’t think of a better partner to make technological advances in retail with than Microsoft.”
The store will have seven cashless self-service tills and two staffed tills and create 22 jobs.
It has also been built with a chiller room for a pick-and-collect service where Microsoft colleagues can shop at a time convenient to them, and then have their shopping stored to be picked up on their way home.
The Co-op said it expected basket sizes to be larger than average as Microsoft staff buy food for that evening and the week ahead as well as food-on-the-go and smaller shops from the store’s range of chilled beers, wines and Champagnes, and snacking, bakery items, ready meals, fresh meat, frozen food, pizza, flowers and daily essentials.
“All of our staff are very excited about having such an impressive new Co-op store in our Reading offices”, said Microsoft UK CEO Cindy Rose.
“The Co-op has a long history of being a pioneer in retail innovation and we continue to be excited about partnering with them as they bring transformational new retail technologies to their customers.”
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