New Sainsbury’s Local officially opens in Hampton Wick
A new Sainsbury's Local officially opened its doors on Hampton Wick's high street at 9am today, Thursday 28 February.
At the grand opening, some of the stores new staff, along with a few school children from Hampton Wick Infants, cut the ribbon.
Several locals also turned up to be the first to purchase some groceries at the new store.
Speaking about the opening of the new store, its manager Jolton, told Nub News: "Hampton Wick is a great location, and I'm excited to serve the community.
"We're here for the customers and here to serve them. We want to provide our customers with whatever we can. Even if they have a query, we will try to solve it within a few days, and if there's a product a customer wants that we don't have, we will try to get it.
"Our main focus is to get as many customers in as possible and to keep them happy."
The swanky new store's shelves are filled to the brim with the usual grocery goods and there's some high-tech new self-checkout tills.
There's even a reduced section and a shelf filled with Easter goodies ready for Easter.
Sainsbury's originally submitted an application to open the new store on the site of the former Painted Furniture Company in 59 – 61 High Street back in September last year and was granted a license in November to sell alcohol from 7am – 11pm, which was met with concerns from many local residents.
Residents were concerned that allowing the store to sell alcohol during these hours would give youngsters easy access to cheaper alcohol and "steal trade" from other venues.
Others were concerned that Sainsbury's selling of alcohol would cause antisocial behaviour and disorder given that nearby Hampton Wick station is largely unmanned and doesn't have ticket barriers.
They worry that people purchasing alcohol would jump the barriers.
However, local Police Constable, PC Lex Powell reassured residents at the Hampton Wick and South Teddington Ward Police Liaison Group Meeting last Thursday, 20 February that the local police team is having "ongoing discussions" with the local licensing officer about securing security in the new store.
He also said that the "lack of ticket barriers" at Hampton Wick Station is being looked into.
Other residents were concerned about the negative effect the new store would have on independent businesses on the high street and worried about where Sainsbury's delivery vans would park given that there's only four parking spaces outside the shop.
Despite these concerns, however, several local residents at the opening expressed their excitement about the new store.
One local resident said: "I'm really happy there's a Sainsbury's opening here.
"I think we need a store like this that's within walking distance so that we purchase items that local newsagents don't sell, and my kids can drop in on their way back from college and grab some groceries for me.
"It saves us going to Teddington or Kingston, and it's really handy as this is the first store in Hampton Wick that doesn't close before 9pm."
Another local resident said that he doesn't see a problem with the store opening.
He said that while he can see how it might steal business from local independent shops, "it saves us from travelling to the Co-op or Kingston".
The new Sainsbury's local is open from 7am – 11pm every day.
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