Waitrose has opened its first full-size supermarket in eight years as part of its strategy to lure back affluent shoppers from Marks & Spencer.
The grocer, which is owned by John Lewis , opened the store in Cricklewood, north London, on Thursday. Another will open in Hale Barns, Greater Manchester next month.
Waitrose said it had also acquired four new sites to open a neighbourhood store in Oakham, Rutland, as well as three new convenience stores in Bedminster, Bristol; Chalk Farm, north London; and Springstead Village, Cambridge.
The sites will open their doors from 2027.
The new openings form part of Waitrose's £1bn investment plan, which it unveiled in 2024. The multi-year project includes the refurbishment of stores and an expansion to new sites.
It marks a new challenge to M&S, which has seen rapid growth in food sales following overhauls of many of its stores.
Grocery sales at M&S rose by 14.9pc in the four weeks to Oct 4, outpacing Waitrose, which grew by 2.3pc over the same period, according to figures from WorldPanel, the market research firm.
Tina Mitchell, a retail director at Waitrose, said the new supermarket in Cricklewood "marks an important step in bringing Waitrose closer to more communities".
She added: "We continue to invest in the right shops in the right locations alongside delivering the experience customers expect from Waitrose through our online offering and wider network."
The grocer has said the new supermarkets will include fish and sushi counters, a dry-aged beef cabinet, an on-site bakery and hand-cut, speciality cheeses.
Waitrose announced last month that it would invest £10m to develop a range of new luxury ready-meals as it attempts to win back customers.
The raft of new stores comes as Waitrose's sister company, the John Lewis department store group, faces "really tough trading" according to Jason Tarry, the partnership's chairman.
Mr Tarry took over as chairman of John Lewis in Sept 2024 and is pushing for the grocer to revamp and expand its stores.
Waitrose has 320 stores across Britain, while M&S has more than 1,000.
Meanwhile, M&S has been lauded by customers for remodelling many of its stores and unveiling an array of new food items – many of which have appeared online in viral videos.
The retailer has also opened several large food-led stores this year, including Chiswick, west London, and Elephant and Castle, south-east London, as it seeks to cash in on affluent shoppers.
It also completed a refurbishment of its 10-storey Pantheon store in Oxford Street this summer.
News of the expansion came as the Competition and Markets Authority confirmed that Aldi and Lidl would be subject to the same planning rules as the mainstream supermarkets for the first time.
They have been redesignated as "large grocery retailers", which prevents them from using covenants to block developments by competitors.
Juliette Enser, of the CMA, said: "This will help level the playing field and make sure shoppers get the best choice of products and prices in their area."
