Sainsbury's opened its 650th convenience store in this week. The store on Mitcham Lane, Streatham employs 25 local people and offers improved choice, as well as a broad range of convenience goods for local residents looking to top-up their main food shop. It is open from 7am to 11pm, seven days a week.

Mitcham Lane was officially launched by Streatham Youth Community Trust who have received sports equipment from the new store.

The retailer now runs over 200 convenience shops across London employing 6,000 people and earlier this year opened a convenience training centre in Brixton to train 700 new managers and team leaders.

Simon Twigger, Sainsbury's Convenience Managing Director, said: "We are delighted to have opened our latest store in London.

"We know that people want to shop locally and frequently, and that is why our stores are conveniently located in the places that people want and need them.

"We have a strong presence in London - it's where our convenience business started, and our Local stores are going from strength to strength. Not only do they provide choice for local people, but they boost the local economy, provide jobs and attract extra footfall."

Mitcham Lane was officially launched by Streatham Youth Community Trust who have received sports equipment from the new store.

New Streatham store manager Marcus Constantinou said: "I have a great team in place and our aim is to provide a fresh range of products, excellent customer service and to be part of the local thriving business community."

Sainsbury's has 21 shops in Lambeth, where Streatham is largely located and employs over 1,000 people in the Borough. It is also undertaking a £500m project regeneration project to provide a new store at Nine Elms, alongside 737 homes and 27,000 sq ft of additional retail and business space. The new store will create 300 jobs and will open in 2016.

Notes to Editors:

  • Sainsbury's opened its first convenience store in Hammersmith in 1998.
  • Over six million customers shop in Sainsbury's Locals each week, and it was named Convenience Retailer of The Year for the fourth year running at the Retail Industry Awards, earlier this year.
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