Waitrose is set to invest more than £1 billion in refurbishments and opening 100 new convenience stores over the next five years.
Up to four large supermarkets will be opened under the plan, alongside the new Little Waitrose shops, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.
A revamped outlet on Finchley Road in north London will open on Wednesday, kickstarting the expansion.
Waitrose’s first new site in six years will then open in the capital’s Hampton Hill later in 2024.
Some of the new openings will be from store relocations, while executive director James Bailey said further investment was being made into technology to prevent gaps on shelves.
On the redesigned Finchley Road store, he said: “We have taken time to understand how our customers like to shop, and used this knowledge to introduce new concepts that will be tested and rolled out nationally.”
The expansion comes after Waitrose, part of the John Lewis Partnership, returned to profit in March following a turbulent period as surging living costs squeezed consumers’ pockets.
Kantar data recently showed the upmarket supermarket had enjoyed its strongest market share growth since November 2023 over the three months to August 4.
“At the moment we are on a real positive upward trajectory,” Bailey added.
Fortunes have also improved ahead of Jason Tarry’s arrival at parent company John Lewis Partnership in September as its new chair.