New Sainsbury's store to open in Sussex village

The retailer is to open a new ‘Neighbourhood Hub’ store in Henfield at premises currently occupied by Knight’s Budgens in the village High Street.

Sainsbury’s is investing more than £1 million to transform the store into a brand-new Sainsbury’s and existing Budgens staff are being given a chance to transfer to Sainsbury’s.

A spokesperson for the supermarket chain said: “Sainsbury’s Neighbourhood Hubs are a food-led interpretation of our renowned supermarket offer, whose size sits between that of convenience stores and supermarkets.

"Their specifically curated product ranges, as well as carefully selected locations in communities throughout the UK, aim to give customers access to everything they need to complete a weekly shop locally .

"The vision for these stores is to be the best ‘in neighbourhood’ one-stop offer, with great value product choice and community at their heart.

“Once open, Sainsbury’s Henfield will provide customers with a fantastic range of great value, high quality branded and Sainsbury’s own-brand products. It will also feature an instore Click & Collect service, bringing together the much-loved brands of Sainsbury’s, Argos, Habitat and Tu Clothing under one roof and enabling customers to collect purchases made online whilst picking up their groceries.”

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The existing Knight’s Budgens is expected to close at the end of February and the new Sainsbury’s to open in May. Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s says it plans to put in place a temporary ‘Sainsbury’s Groceries Online Click & Collect service’ in a section of Coopers Way Car Park behind the store ‘to ensure customers can continue to buy food and other staples from the same location in the period before the new store opens.’

Sainsbury’s property director Patrick Dunne said: “We’re delighted to be bringing a new Neighbourhood Hub store to Henfield, giving the local community the chance to experience Sainsbury’s renowned colleague service and product range within one of our very latest store formats.

"We’ll be working hard to complete the transformation of the store as efficiently as possible in the coming months and we’re looking forward to helping and serving our new customers later this year.”