Waitrose signs to Alderley Edge scheme

Bluemantle has agreed a deal with food retailer Waitrose to open a new 6,000 sq ft store in Alderley Edge.

Planning permission has been submitted for the store, which will be situated at The Parade on London Road, adjacent to a Co-op food store, in Alderley Edge village.

The store has agreed a 15 year lease for an undisclosed rent.

John Leighton, director of Bluemantle, said: "We are very pleased to have secured Waitrose and believe their offer will complement our existing tenant, The Co-op. We also believe that Waitrose will stop some of the leakage to Handforth Dean and increase footfall and dwell time in Alderley Edge. Waitrose is an operator which the local community has wanted in the village for a long time and we hope the new store provides a platform for further improvements."

Waitrose, part of the John Lewis Partnership, plans to have the new store open by August of this year. Waitrose has opened seven stores in the North West in the last six years and last week confirmed plans for a new £35m regional distribution centre on a 30 acre site in Chorley.

Waitrose in Altrincham opened in October 2009 and it has others in Sandbach, Wilmslow and Cheadle Hulme, as well as one planned for Knutsford.