Welcome to 'The home of food lovers' at Waitrose Newbury

Showcasing much of Waitrose's latest thinking, the Newbury store delivers an elevated and differentiated customer experience. Here is how it stands out.

1. An enhanced overall positioning

   
   

The store reopened following refurbishment in late 2025, unveiling a raft of new initiatives, designed to create a strong foodie destination.

The store very much lives up to its billing as “The home of food lovers”. There’s a pride around this positioning, so much so that this messaging sits proudly above the door on entry. It's an impressive, inviting store that definitely merits a visit in person. An excellent fresh section is nicely merchandised with some great messaging around the section as a whole.

 2.  A focus on counters - and making the most out of them

One of our longstanding recommendations to retailers on the subject of counters is that if you do them, be committed to them. And that ties in well with how Waitrose has approached this. While other retailers have been moving away from operating counters, Waitrose has taken a different view, doubling down and further evolving the counter proposition in this store. This is an impressive and impactful part of the store, including sushi and deli as well as fish and meat. In particular, the dry aged section in the butchery stood out - significantly this is getting good traction among shoppers.

3. Delivering elevated customer service

A strong and positive interaction between customers and partners/ team members is integral to the success of counters and plays a key role across the store. There’s been a concerted approach from the store leadership team to deliver an enhanced level of customer service in tandem with the elevated store proposition, which definitely comes through.

4.  Speciality, visibility and experience in cheese

While cheese has not been given a traditional counter, it nonetheless succeeds in being one of the stellar categories in-store. It's been provided with an open display and an elevated shop-in-shop feel, where, in our view, there is a definite nod to the successful approach of new format M&S stores. There’s a broad range available to choose from and some strong targeted POS guidance to help customers differentiate between different flavour profiles in areas such as brie and blue cheese.  And regular daily tastings, with product combinations and serving suggestions inspired by partners, helps bring the customer closer to the proposition and familiarise customers with less everyday varieties.

4. Using the store entrance to set the stall out for the core store values and credentials

The store features a seasonal solutions/ recipe showcase at the front of store, immediately on entry. With one unit facing the entrance and one on the reverse side of the fixture, this is a great opportunity to showcase Waitrose’s food lovers credentials, with featured recipes. Strawberries were a key theme on our visit, with Eton mess featuring as well as a strawberry and halloumi salad.

 5. An elevated alcohol section, driving both premium and ready to drink

Backlit products in for example premium spirits and rosé help showcase this part of the store.  Chilled lines, including pre-mixed and minis, also form part of this proposition. Overall the location helps to create a distinctive, shop-in-shop and more specialist, feel.

6. Premium fixturing showcase

This is a wealthy catchment and more premium ranges have been developed and showcased to good effect with this section of the store. This included brands such as Neal’s Yard Remedies and Cowshed, as well as a showcase feature display for Waitrose’s own Duchy Organic range. 

7. A new look café concept

Though smaller than the previous café, it’s still a good size and crucially succeeds in creating a distinct ambience. New lines, enticing but simpler to prepare and serve, have been added, improving operational efficiencies. This does a good job at creating a destination in its own right, and is nicely segmented from the core store.

Our view: A store well worth visiting

Overall view: An excellent store that really pushes on thinking in terms of UK grocery retail formats.

What we liked:

1. Overall open feel to the store creating a better shopping experience.

2. Radical seasonality and showcasing with the front of store menu feature.

3. Specialism and higher tier selling in key areas.

Areas to develop further:

1. Roll out the cheese-style guidance across more parts of the store (wine and produce could be good opportunities for example)

2. Consider opportunities to develop the food-to-go proposition further. Though it includes great products and an enticing meal deal, from a mission perspective, there are opportunities to do more.

3. Further evolve the positioning of the home of food lovers to include more food & drink focused events in-store, including tastings and exclusive events around product launches.

Want to find out more about our retail and food-to-go safaris or our global best practice and inspiration presentations? Get in touch gavin@foodfuturesinsights.com.