Anne Bruce
Netto has shaken up its distribution network following the opening of its new 160,000 sq ft depot in Daventry, Northamptonshire this week.
Supply for stores in the Midlands area will now be reallocated from Netto's headquarters in Wakefield, West Yorkshire to Daventry, which will also service the south of the country.
Managing director Thomas Jellum said: "We are moving supply for some of our Midlands stores from our 300,000 sq ft Wakefield base to Daventry.
"That depot will also be used for next day deliveries to southern stores as far as Southampton and Havant."
Both depots have chilled and frozen areas and are set up to mirror store planograms for ease of picking, with a designated area set aside to stockpile promotional lines, advertised to customers through weekly leaflets.
And independent laboratories are attached which conduct random checks on the quality of fresh and own label lines before they are sent out to store.
The Daventry site replaces a Netto distribution centre in Reading which was closed in July after a review of operating costs. An interim ambient warehouse in Daventry has been used as a stopgap over the last few weeks.
Jellum said the decision not to renew the lease for Reading was taken partly due to difficulties finding enough warehouse staff in an area of high employment. The new setup will allow 24 hour turnaround of orders from stores and will leave excess capacity at both depots as Netto continues its expansion drive across the UK.
Jellum said that Netto now had129 stores across England, although as yet there were no outlets in in Scotland or Wales.
He said: "I am reluctant to put a target on store numbers for the future. The quality of the site has to be there as well as the quantity.
"The message we are giving out is that Netto is in acceptable shape and ready for development."

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