Tesco have revealed the inside of their revamped Tesco Extra store in Watford in a new retail concept for the UK.
The 80,000 sq ft Watford Extra store will feature new areas that focus on homeware, food, cook and dine as well as a community space.
Following the March acquisition of family-friendly restaurant Giraffe and a stake in coffee house Harris + Hoole, Tesco will bring together an umbrella of companies including bakers Euphorium and The Bakery Project under one roof for the first time.
Chris Bush, UK Managing Director, commented: “Watford represents a fundamental change in the way that people are doing their shopping. More and more of our customers are shopping for leisure; they want to browse for clothes, eat a meal or grab a cup of coffee, as well as do their weekly shop. It offers us a glimpse into what stores of the future might look like and we‘re really excited to be sharing that with our customers.”
Tesco, which is trying to reinvent itself following the horsemeat scandal, confirmed they were pulling its 200 Fresh & Easy stores from the USA earlier this year which booked a loss of £1.2bn and sent profits tumbling by 96 per cent.
The new look store will be built around its ‘Food First‘ philosophy with new fresh fruit and veg sections aiming to appeal to health-conscious shoppers.
One of the most surprising features is the inclusion of a pharmacy and opticians in-store.
A 600 sq ft community space incentive will also allow customers to have free access to yoga, baby gym and cookery classes as well as free tea and coffee making facilities.
The revamped store will feature a Nail Bar in a new-look Health and Beauty department offering beauty treatments from £5.
The Watford store employs 600 staff and is open 24 hours a day, 6 days a week.
