First Iceland Swift convenience store opens in Newcastle
Iceland will today launch a new convenience store format called Swift.
Last year, it registered the Swift trademark with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), leading to speculation that it was working on a same day grocery delivery service.
But the retailer has instead gone down the bricks and mortar route, with the first store opening this morning in Newcastle in a 1,700 sq ft converted Iceland unit.
Swift has a Twitter account, @swiftstoresuk, although it has yet to tweet and the bio contains just two words: ‘Coming soon’.
Its range will cover “the full spectrum of grocery” from frozen and fresh to food-to-go, alcohol and tobacco, a spokeswoman said.
The aim is to “provide a simple, easy-to-shop food store with the watchwords: fresh, fast, local”, they added.
Amazon Fresh
Earlier this week, Amazon continued its UK bricks and mortar push with the opening of an Amazon Fresh store at Wembley Park, London.
It’s the second such convenience store to offer Just Walk Out Shopping tech in the UK, which was pioneered at the Amazon Go offering in the States.
This followed a 4th March launch, which marked the e-commerce giant’s first physical shop and first grocery store outside of the US, in Ealing, London.
