Iceland has launched a new convenience supermarket format under the Swift brand, with a comprehensive refit. The trial store opened on Thursday, 18 March 2021, at the former Iceland Four Lane Ends site in Benton, Newcastle upon Tyne. Swift is an entirely new concept that is designed to provide a simple, easy-to-shop food store with the watchwords: Fast. Fresh. Local, allowing shoppers in Newcastle to be the first to reap the benefits of the new format.
The 1700ft², opened its doors today, transferring 12 Iceland employees, including the store manager over to the new brand, offering customers a one-stop convenience store. The store will offer double the range of the former small Iceland store, with nearly 3,000 lines on offer covering the full spectrum of grocery, chilled, fresh, frozen, alcohol, cigarettes and tobacco and food-to-go. Its novel layout breaks down the traditional barriers between frozen and chilled food to provide a complete range of meal solutions, with great lunch and dinner meal deals on offer every day.
Matt Downes, Head of Space & Format Development at Iceland, said: “Today’s launch is the start of a really exciting concept and we’re thrilled to be opening our first site in Newcastle. The store is located on a very busy road, next to a major Metro hub with free parking outside: it seemed the perfect location for a convenience store trial.”
Through innovative design, including the use of vertical refrigeration on every wall, Swift allows for a bigger and better shopping experience with thousands of lines stocked.
Richard Walker, Managing Director at Iceland, said: “Swift has a focus on being fast, fresh and local. Our last ‘one store trial’ of a new store format was The Food Warehouse in 2014 and we now have 140 stores. If this trial resonates with consumers there is potential to expand it both within the existing Iceland store estate and beyond to expand our existing network of stores in almost 1000 communities across the UK.”
