Construction is in progress for the new local centre at Glenvale Park, which will provide Wellingborough residents with a brand new Co-op store, as well as a new Drive Thru for local independent coffee chain, Bewiched.
The building works – delivered by local firm PGR Construction – will continue until 2024, in time for the expected opening of the local centre later in the year.
A development of 3,000 homes, Glenvale Park is a new neighbourhood in Wellingborough. The retail offering will complement the existing amenities already available at the development, which include a new family play park that opened earlier in the summer.
Mark Best, director of Midtown Capital Ltd, managing partner of Glenvale Park LLP, said: “With construction of the local centre now well underway, Glenvale Park is full steam ahead with delivering a range of fantastic local amenities for residents, along with new homes for local businesses.
“At Glenvale Park, the goal is to create a close-knit community hub where residents have everything they need onsite, also helping to integrate the development within the local Wellingborough community.”
The new food store is being opened by the Heart of England Co-operative Society which owns the eight-unit local centre on the site.
Chief Executive Ali Kurji said the Society is looking forward to providing a first class, modern shopping experience at the heart of a vibrant new community.
“The spacious 4,862 sq ft sales floor will enable us to offer many exciting features, along with high quality produce. On top of an excellent range of meat, groceries, dairy products, wines and spirits, there will be an in-store bakery, a chilled food-to-go range, as well as a parcel locker. Local residents will also be able to buy hot drinks, children’s toys and fresh flowers.
“We are investing a total of £6.1m in creating a feature packed, new store plus seven rental units, one of which will house a Bewiched drive-thru coffee shop. It’s a major milestone for us.
“The building itself will increase the Park’s sustainability with air conditioning and refrigeration systems using around 40 per cent less energy than older equipment. There will also be electric vehicle charging points in the car park.”
Mr Kurji added: “This wll be our 39th food store. We are delighted to be embarking on this exciting and significant new chapter in our history.”
Bewiched was founded by Matt Fountain, expanding to 15 Midlands stores in just over ten years, starting from his first shop in Wellingborough in 2010.
Founder and Managing Director of Bewiched Coffee, Matt Fountain, said: “As a brand that was born just a mile from Glenvale Park, we are very proud to be opening another Drive Thru unit in Northamptonshire, the store will also have fifty-five internal covers.
“As it stands this will be only the second purpose built independent drive thru coffee offer in the UK and Europe – the first being our Moulton Park store.
“We have only been able to achieve these milestones through the exceptional service and products our teams create everyday across all of our stores.
“Our aim over the next twelve months is to give over 5,000 individual recognition moments to our team, we are currently smashing that target and could even get to over 10,000.
“We want to deliver an elevated service experience to our amazing loyal customer base. We currently serve over 40,000 customers a week and genuinely want to create great moments for every single one of them, as well as our teams. Glenvale Park will be another important and exciting step on that journey.”
