Central England Co-op partners with The Original Factory Shop in Belper creating five new jobs
Posted by james brindle | Published: 26/07/2022
Central England Co-op has enhanced its offering to its loyal customers and members at its Belper food store after partnering with the UK’s leading local, value brand retailer to open a new concession at the store creating five new jobs.
The Original Factory Shop has opened a large, brand new concession within the Strutt Street food store, giving a boost to the retail offer in the Derbyshire market town.
The concession, which occupies 3,358 square feet, will see the Original Factory Shop bring its range of bargain-based clothing, pet products, electricals, homewares, a party shop service and reserve and collect to the local community.
Its launch has been welcomed by Central England Co-op Belper Store Manager Kerry Smith who said she and the team were ‘delighted’ to welcome their new partners to the Strutt Street store.
She said: “We’re proud to be part of the local community here in Belper so therefore we are delighted to welcome such a popular store as The Original Factory Shop to be part of what we’re able to offer.
“We’re continually looking at new ways to maximise the space of our larger community stores and benefit our customers and members by providing them with great options to help them along with the vital food and essentials they need.”
The Original Factory Shop manager, Helen Bowler, said: “We’ve got a fantastic new team and brand new concession launching at the Belper Central England Co-op this week. The fact that we have been able to recruit five new job positions within the local area adds to the buzz and helps us to better serve our local community with expert knowledge and advice.”
The Belper launch is the fourth link-up between CEC and The Original Factory Shop and the second in Derbyshire, after it launch a concession at its Ripley store late last year.
The Central England Co-op Food Store is open Monday to Saturday 8am-8pm and Sunday 10am-4pm, while the Original Factory Shop concession is open Monday to Saturday 9am-5.30pm and Sunday 10am-4pm.
The food store has a wide range of products from everyday necessities to something a little more special and offers a lifesaving defibrillator, self-checkouts, cash machine, Lottery, Collect Plus/Paypoint, an instore bakery and a customer car park.
Notes to editors
About Central England Co-operative
Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK with interests in food, funeral, floral and property investment.
Owned by hundreds of thousands of members, its over 8,000 colleagues serve customers across 400 plus trading sites in 20 counties in the East and West Midlands, Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
Its purpose is to inspire communities to create a sustainable Society for all.
It actively campaigns for the Government to increase sentencing for violent attacks on retail workers and works with FareShare Midlands and hundreds of food banks, generating enough food donations to create over 2.1 million meals for people in need.
The Society embraces inclusivity and equality and is a signed-up member to the Business in the Community (BITC) Race at Work Charter, while it is also fully committed to addressing the impact of climate change and is on track to be Carbon Neutral by 2030.
It invests a percentage of its trading profit into local communities through its Community Dividend Fund scheme which has seen over £175,000 shared out between 116 good causes over the past 12 months.
Central England Co-op was named Leading Co-op of the Year by Co-operatives UK in 2021.
Press office contact: James Brindle, Public Relations Lead
Contact details: email james.brindle@centralengland.coop and telephone 07392 080028.