A new £2.4m food store which was built on a former World War Two RAF airfield has got off to a flying start, after its doors opened to the public for the first time this weekend.
Hundreds of shoppers attended the launch on 11 July in the heart of Southam’s Flying Fields development.
The impressive Heart of England Co-op store has been developed with the environment in mind. It boasts a host of green features from state-of-the-art solar panels to built-in bird and bat boxes, the group said.
Pupils from St Mary’s Catholic Primary School took part in the opening ceremony, helping store manager Stella Turner to cut the ribbon. The Heart of England Co-op presented the school with a goodwill cheque for £500, with a further £200 donation being made to Southam Foodbank.
Free entertainment on ‘take-off’ day included facepainting sessions and bucket drumming workshops. Complimentary goodie bags were handed to the first 200 customers. Children were also able to take part in a colouring competition and had selfies taken with Cooper the Bear.
Heart of England Co-op chief executive Steve Browne said he’s proud of the 3,000 sq.ft. store: “This is a flagship branch as it’s the first store we’ve opened in our new visual identity, and marks the start of an exciting new brand rollout. The store is located in the heart of an amazing new community. A great deal of thought has gone into its offering to our customers and members.
“We’ve also created 14 new jobs, and we specifically targeted people living in this locality.”
Other features include manned and self-scanning check-out tills, parcel lockers, hot food to go from Deli Co, a Tango Ice Blast Machine, Smokin’ Bean self-serve coffee, free wi-fi, a National Lottery point, PayPoint service and a food bank bin.
Browne said he was particularly pleased with the new store’s ‘stand-out’ green credentials: “The environment is foremost in our thoughts whenever we launch a new building, and this is the greenest one we have ever created. It uses no natural gas, and the LED lighting has presence detection in the aisles which turns the lights on and off as shoppers enter and leave.
“On bright days the solar panels will be sufficient to run the store entirely off grid. We also engage in rainwater harvesting to keep our plants healthy and look after the local wildlife by having specialist bat and bird boxes built into both sides of the building.”
Situated seven miles from Royal Leamington Spa and around 12 miles from Rugby, Flying Fields is a development of more than 500 homes with a community hall owned by Southam Town Council.
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