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Waitrose has announced that five new convenience stores will open this year and next across the UK, creating 260 new jobs between them.

The stores are part of the food retailer’s plan to open 300 convenience outlets in the UK over the next 10 years.  

Waitrose’s said it will open its first store in central Manchester this November. Developer Allied London will be overseeing the projec, a 3,000 sq ft convenience store in Manchester House, Bridge Street.

The retailer will also be opening its first convenience store in Cheshire next year. The aim is to open the 6,500 sq ft store by spring 2011. The new store will create up to 65 jobs for the local area.

The three other convenience stores will be built in Walton-on-Thames, Hornchurch in Essex and Amersham in Buckinghamshire. The 5,000sq ft store in Walton-on-Thames will create around 55 jobs, will. The scheme is now near completion with the 33 flats above the retail space currently being marketed.  

Waitrose has also reached an agreement with Kiafield Properties to open a new 5,753 sq ft store in Hornchurch. Fit out begins this month with the store opening in November at a date to be confirmed. Some 40 jobs will be created.

The 4,968 sq ft store in Amersham will open in premises following Woolworths closure in December 2008.  Waitrose will refurbish the premises and open by the end of the year at a date to be confirmed. The store will create around 60 new jobs.