Upmarket British grocer Waitrose says it will be the UK's first major supermarket to operate a cashless store when it opens a little Waitrose shop in Sky's new flagship head office building at its campus in Osterley this summer.
It will also be the first Waitrose to open on a workplace campus in almost 20 years.
The little Waitrose branded store will be located inside the new Sky Central office building, which will have more than 3,500 staff when work is completed on the site in the coming months.
Sky employees will be able to pay by card, or their mobile devices, at one of the five self-service checkouts in the store.
At 1,400 sq ft, will become the second smallest store in the retailer's estate.
Waitrose opened its only other office-based store in 1998 - a 520 sq ft shop at British Airways' Waterside headquarters in Harmondsworth.
The retailer met with groups of Sky employees to determine their vision for the new store.
It will have a a focus on evening meals and food to go, including fresh sandwiches, wraps and sushi, as well as a selection of fresh produce and ingredients, celebration cakes, freshly cut flowers and store cupboard staples. Bread and croissants will also be baked each day. Travel accessories and mini health and beauty range will also be available in the store.
The Waitrose store will have 20 employees - all will become Partners in the John Lewis Partnership.
Speaking on the developments, Jackie Wharton, Waitrose director for convenience, said, "Opening on the Sky campus is an exciting opportunity for us to respond to how customers wish to shop in this flagship workplace setting. Our convenience model is now more flexible than ever, especially as payment methods and ranges continue to evolve, so we'll look forward to exploring other opportunities like this in the future.”
Nick Green, director of property service group for Sky, added, “We're thrilled to welcome Waitrose to our campus in Osterley. Our goal is to make Sky a great place to work for all our colleagues and having such easy access to this new shop will be a huge benefit.”
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