Morrisons to open temporary store in Penrith within a week

Published at 08:05, Friday, 11 December 2009

Morrisons is expecting to have a temporary supermarket open in Penrith within the next week, bosses have revealed.

The Morrisons store in Penrith

Video: Work starts on the Morrisons store site

The existing branch, the town’s biggest supermarket at 35,000sq ft, was ravaged by fire just over a week ago and shoppers are being bused to other branches in Carlisle and Kendal.

However, a new 8,000sq ft temporary store, along with a 2,000sq ft warehouse, is set to open in the car park of the gutted building while work is carried out to reopen the main supermarket.

Morrisons’ spokeswoman Stella Pitt said: “There have been a lot of head office staff coming up and down to the site and a lot of meetings to get it all progressed.

“There will be a lot of late nights and working together to get the store open so quickly. It’s a case of everybody pulling together and getting the job done.

“We are not in this position every day, it’s something quite new for us so Penrith has been a learning experience. I’m not sure we’ve ever had a temporary store on this scale before.”

The temporary store, which will be housed in a portable building will not contain deli, fish or meat counters.

However, it will be stocked as a normal Morrisons store and people who ordered Christmas turkeys through the Penrith store can pick them up from the temporary building.

The top end of the supermarket’s car park will remain open, providing space for about 100 vehicles.

Around one third of the store’s 320 staff, currently working at Carlisle and Kendal, will be brought back to work in the temporary shop.

Store manager Jackie Mills said: “It’s only a week since we were standing looking at a burning building, so I am surprised how quickly it’s coming together.

“The staff are all relieved they have still got jobs and this news has lifted everybody’s spirits again.

“There was a bit of a cheer when we waved the bus off from the car park yesterday morning.”

Morrisons’ petrol station reopened shortly after the fire, and a pharmacy will open on Monday as part of the new development, operating on weekdays from 9am until 5pm and 9am until 3pm on Saturdays.

The new store, when stocked, will be open from 8am until 10pm from Mondays to Saturdays and 10am until 4pm on Sundays.

Morrisons will submit a retrospective planning application which Eden council is expected to support to allow work on the site to progress quickly.

Council leader Keith Phillips said: “We are delighted Morrisons and the council have been able to work together to facilitate construction of this temporary store so quickly after last week’s dramatic fire.

“Losing a major retailer in the town so close to Christmas could have been disastrous, but we have all worked together quickly to turn the situation around.”

Fire crews were also back at the store yesterday, hoping to determine the cause of last Thursday’s blaze which began at around 5.45pm.

About 50 firefighters spent 10 hours tackling the blaze.