Asda coming to NI?

arkonite_babe

Ehh? You lost me on that one BigAl

Ardsguy

My local Safeways Bangor & Newtownards close soon. Bangor 31st August for 5 week refit and Newtownards closes 29th October, hope this helps!

BigAl94

From Belfast Telegraph 30 August
ASDA, the UK supermarket giant, last night confirmed roll-out details for its supermarkets in Ulster as enthusiasm for its eagerly-awaited entry into the NI market grows.


The supermarket giant has announced it plans to open a total of 12 stores in the province.

Based on current estimates, stores are expected to be up and running in Bangor, Coleraine, Cookstown and Ballyclare by mid-October.

Kilkeel and Strabane will follow, with both towns having an ASDA supermarket by the end of October.

It was also revealed that Belfast's Westwood and Shore Road stores will be open for business by mid-to-late November, along with Omagh and Dundonald outlets.

Enniskillen and Newtownards will follow suit, with supermarkets fully functional by early December.

ASDA's announcement comes in the wake of official clearance by the Office of Fair Trading of its province-wide launch plans and represents a significant development in the history of Northern Ireland's retail sector.

ASDA's arrival involves a £30m refurbishment programme to transfer 12 existing Safeway stores to ASDA, following agreement with WM Morrison Plc in June.

It is anticipated that the refurbishment programme will be completed by December.

ASDA has confirmed it is committed to retaining all existing Safeway staff - over 2,000 employees - and also plans to increase its overall Ulster workforce by 250 this Christmas.

It will represent an average of 20 additional jobs per store.

The average gross footage of the new stores will be 52,000 sq ft, with Newtownards, Coleraine, and Westwood the largest stores occupying 78,000, 76,000 and 61,000 gross sq ft respectively.

John Deasy, ASDA NI director, said: "We are delighted that we can now begin work on our NI store roll-out.

"Entering this market represents a very exciting stage in ASDA's development and we are looking forward to becoming a valuable part of the local community."

jnd

Ardsguy wrote:

My local Safeways Bangor & Newtownards close soon. Bangor 31st August for 5 week refit and Newtownards closes 29th October, hope this helps!

Don't know about Ards but the Bangor store is closing at 3pm tomorrow (Friday) 2nd September. Hardly anything left on the shelves.

Jo4

I wonder will they do home delivery and if so, how close have you to be to the store?

avoniel

Anyone been to new stores opened today. How was it? Any bargains? What about petrol prices?

arkonite_babe

I'm itching to get into an Asda store, wish they'd hurry up and get one re-vamped near me!

chunter

Shut the doors on the first day of opening of Asda in Cookstown.
They were queueing to get in.
Car park full too. Parking in the housing estates nearby.

Why?

cruesfan

I've just returned form the new Bangor store. Not overly impressed as it seems to be very cramped compared to Safeway. There are much better offers at Tesco. Also had a problem with a multibuy offer that took almost 25mins at Customer Services to sort out. I did get a £2 voucher as compensation though (big deal). I honestly won't be in a hurry to go back.

NAR

jmcateer wrote:

Anyone been to new stores opened today. How was it? Any bargains? What about petrol prices?

Petrol 90.9 for unleaded and suprise, suprise Tesco immediately matched them.