Waitrose
British supermarket chain owned by John Lewis Partnership
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2024 | A report revealed staff at a Waitrose-supplying slaughterhouse were repeatedly striking pigs with paddles before killing them in a carbon dioxide gas chamber, with animals showing visible injuries and physical deformities. |
August 2024 | Waitrose announced plans to open 100 new convenience shops over the next five years, continuing its expansion in the convenience store market. |
2022 | Waitrose opened new retail locations in Croydon, London and Newcastle, Tyne & Wear, expanding its supermarket chain's presence in these regions. |
2021 | Waitrose Duchy Organic reported a profit of £3.6 million. |
2021 | The John Lewis Partnership continued to suspend the annual Partnership bonus for employees in the 2021 financial year, further frustrating partners during the ongoing pandemic. |
June 2021 | The Wolverhampton Waitrose shop was reopened as a Tesco store. |
2020 | Prince Charles did not renew the lease on Home Farm, but continued organic farming at Sandringham House. The new Home Farm tenant maintained the relationship with Waitrose Duchy Organic. |
2020 | The Independent reported animal abuse at a Yorkshire farm in the Waitrose supply chain, where goats were documented being physically mistreated, including being punched, kicked, and roughly handled on conveyor belts. |
2020 | During the COVID-19 pandemic, the John Lewis Partnership suspended the annual Partnership bonus for employees in the 2020 financial year, causing discontent among partners who felt their hard work was not recognized. |
September 2020 | Four Waitrose stores in Caldicot, Ipswich, Shrewsbury, and Wolverhampton were announced for closure, with the Wolverhampton store being sold to Tesco. |
September 1 2020 | Waitrose ended its relationship with Ocado, terminating the product distribution partnership and transitioning to its own delivery service. |
August 2020 | Waitrose announced it would cease operations with Ocado. |
June 2020 | Torquay Waitrose store was re-opened as a Lidl supermarket in June 2020. |
March 2020 | Waitrose announced expansion of its Waitrose.com online delivery service to 24 more stores across the UK in preparation for splitting with Ocado. |
March 2020 | Waitrose closed shops in Four Oaks, which was subsequently re-opened as an Aldi store. |
March 2020 | Waitrose closed its shop in Helensburgh, which was later converted to a Morrisons store. |
January 2020 | Teignmouth Waitrose store was re-opened as a Lidl supermarket in January 2020. |
2019 | Waitrose announced shop closures in multiple locations including Torquay, Teignmouth, Blaby, Barry, and Ashbourne during the spring of 2019. |
2019 | Waitrose closed the Colmore Row, Birmingham store, which was subsequently reopened as a Co-op. |
2019 | Waitrose announced twelve additional store closures across the United Kingdom. |
September 2019 | Waitrose closed multiple stores including locations in Bromley, Oadby, Wollaton (which was re-opened as Lidl), Sandhurst (re-opened as Aldi), Marlow in Buckinghamshire (re-opened as Lidl), Stevenage, and the Waterside building (British Airways headquarters). |
2018 | Waitrose closed multiple store locations including shops in Spinningfields, Manchester; Manchester Piccadilly station; Portman Square, London; and Camden Town, London. |
2018 | Waitrose closed four convenience shops and one supermarket in the UK as part of a strategic store reduction effort. |
2018 | John Lewis announced the closure of five Waitrose shops due to profitability issues. |
2017 | Waitrose opened new shops in Cardiff Queen Street, Hertford, Huntingdon, and Palmers Green, while also relocating the Palmers Green store to Winchmore Hill. |
2017 | Waitrose closed its store in Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey, which was re-opened as an M&S Foodhall. |
2017 | Waitrose closed its store in Leek, Staffordshire, which was subsequently re-opened as a Lidl store. |
2016 | Waitrose repackaged the mineral water as part of its Waitrose One premium range. |
2016 | Waitrose opened new store locations in Leeds City Centre, West Yorkshire and Tottenham Court Road, London, expanding their retail presence in key urban areas. |
2016 | The 'essential Waitrose' range expanded to over 2,000 items and achieved £1.1 billion in annual sales, becoming one of only five food and drink brands in Britain worth over £1 billion. |
June 16 2016 | Opened its most southerly branch in Truro, Cornwall, expanding its geographical reach. |
2015 | Over 3,000 farmers had been involved in the Duchy Future Farming programme by this year, participating in experimental organic farming research. |
2015 | Waitrose relocated its shop in Littlehampton to a new location in Rustington, West Sussex. |
June 2015 | The brand name was changed to Waitrose Duchy Organic during the summer. |
February 2015 | Waitrose Kitchen magazine published an advertising pamphlet titled 'Taste of Israel' which caused controversy by referring to traditional Arabic foods as Israeli, leading to a social media backlash against the company. |
2014 | Waitrose opened a new store location in Dartford, Kent, expanding its retail presence in the southeastern region of the United Kingdom. |
2013 | The Duchy Future Farming programme was established in partnership with the Soil Association to provide advice and support to UK farmers and growers in organic farming research methods. |
2013 | The brand had recovered, achieving annual profits of £2.8 million following the Waitrose partnership. |
2013 | The brand expanded internationally, selling products in 30 countries including Australia and Japan. |
2013 | The brand had raised a cumulative total of £11 million in charitable donations from its profits to The Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund. |
2013 | Waitrose started sponsoring the England cricket team, a sponsorship that would continue for three years until 2016. |
October 23 2013 | Opened its 300th shop in Helensburgh on the River Clyde, representing a milestone in the company's expansion. |
January 2013 | Opened its northernmost British shop in Stirling, Scotland, marking significant expansion beyond its traditional southern English territory. |
2012 | Duchy Originals raised over one million Canadian dollars annually for The Prince's Charities Canada through product sales. |
2012 | Waitrose expanded its price matching campaign, extending price guarantees to 7,000 items compared to Tesco. |
2012 | Partnership with Boots ended after being deemed unsuccessful, with Boots replacing Waitrose products with SuperValu chain items. |
2011 | Waitrose introduced its first loyalty card scheme, myWaitrose, which was unique in offering exclusive competitions and offers instead of traditional points-based rewards. |
October 2011 | Waitrose opened a 'Dotcom Fulfilment Centre' in Acton, West London, employing over 200 Partners to handle internet food deliveries for west and central London. |
February 2011 | John Lewis Pension trust divested its shares in Ocado. |
2010 | Arrangement with Ocado amended to a ten-year product supply agreement. |
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