Jersey Farmers Trading Union’s Town and Country site will be transformed into a supermarket with six petrol pumps and 28 parking spaces if the plans submitted by the Co-op are approved.
The society have an agreement to purchase the site from JFTU ‘subject to planning approval’, but have said that work on the site would not start until 12 months after the plans were give the green light to allow the JFTU time to complete their own relocation.
If approved, it would be the third En Route store the society has opened and would see the redevelopment of the entire 3,500 sq ft site.
The general manager of JFTU Town and Country has reassured Islanders that they are in the process of looking at a new site and will not exit the current store until they have confirmed plans.
Melvin Le Feuvre said that new plans would be announced early next year.
‘If the plans are approved then we will have 12 months to work on our own plans for the store,’ he said. ‘When we find ourselves in the right situation we will then exit our current premises.
‘We made lots of improvements to our store when we moved from commercial buildings to Sion and we plan to make many more improvements when we relocate. We have plans to move to a bigger and better premises and our exiting will work in line with the Co-op taking over our current premises.
‘JFTU is very much a country store and I don’t think we will move into a town centre location. Hopefully we will be able to offer a lot more services and improve on what we currently do during this redevelopment stage.’
Mark Cox, chief operating officer for the Co-op, has said that the Locale based at Sion had exceeded expectations since it was opened four years ago. If the plans are approved, the Co-op plan to close the Locale when the En Route opens and staff will be able to move to the new store on Queen’s Road. The supermarket chain currently run En Routes in St Peter and St Mary.
Mr Cox said: ‘As a community retailer, we engage with our members every year on what they would like to see from the Co-op. Our Jersey members have been very keen for us to expand our fuel offering for some time and we have been actively looking for suitable sites.
‘The Locale, with limited parking, was simply unable to fulfil the huge potential in the centre of Jersey. Our new store, which is close by, will be almost three times the size so we will be able to offer a much broader food range as well as our market-leading fuel offer.’
