Morrisons new store in Amble opens to feed local community

Morrisons’ new store in Amble opens its doors today as part of the company’s ongoing commitment to help feed the nation during the Coronavirus outbreak.

The 14,500sq ft store will employ a team of over a hundred colleagues in both full and part-time roles, who will join the company’s 96,637 staff serving communities across the UK.

As part of Morrisons efforts to support the community, the new store in Amble will also be playing its part to help restock local food banks thanks to weekly deliveries of essential items.

As the UK’s largest fresh foodmaker, Morrisons will be running its bakery, egg and fruit & veg packing site for an extra hour every day to make, prepare and pack food required to restock the food banks.

Morrisons will also be sending deliveries of ambient food - such as canned goods and pasta - to the new Amble store to also give to their local food bank. The food donated to the store will be distributed to food banks by the Morrisons Amble community champion - Marion McKenzie Long - who works with the local community.

Typical items being donated include bread, eggs, orange juice and bags of pasta. 

Local food banks, a critical source of food for the most vulnerable in our communities, are suffering badly during the current crisis, as donations have dried up rapidly over the last two weeks and demand has increased.

In addition, to make it easier for customers to donate to food banks in store, purchase limits on items will be raised to four items (from three) and some removed altogether. The Amble store will create ‘local’ drop off points for customers to donate products to those in need and a donation hub will collect these additional products for their local food banks.  

David Potts, CEO of Morrisons said: “As a food maker and shopkeeper we are uniquely placed to help. We know food banks are finding life very difficult and running our manufacturing sites for an extra hour each day to help restock them is the right decision at this time.
“The core purpose of all 96,537 colleagues at Morrisons is to play our full part in feeding the nation.  #It’sMoreThanOurJob.”

During this time of supporting local communities and feeding the nation, the new store will focus on delivering Morrisons core services and essentials for customers in Amble.

In the coming months, Morrisons in Amble will eventually offer a wide range of features including:

• Barista coffee bar with 18 seats

• Garden Shop selling bouquets and small plants

• Bake-off bakery counter and cake shop 

• Takeaway salad bar

• Make your own pizza counter

• Morrisons signature Butcher counter

• Nutmeg children’s clothing range

• A wide selection of Free From products

The store will also offer a Community Room providing a free meeting space for local groups such as new parents, charities, book clubs, craft groups and gaming communities. The room is designed to help community groups deal with the increasing cost of booking meeting spaces. Groups that would like to book the room can email the Community Champions on: Champion.Amble@morrisonsplc.co.uk.