First look inside Aylesbury's giant new Sainsbury's as superstore officially opens

Aylesbury's giant new Sainsbury's superstore officially opens its doors today (Wednesday November 24th) with a ribbon cutting ceremony being held before customers are welcomed from 9am.

The massive new store in Gatehouse has been over a decade in the planning. And it is now ready to welcome shoppers in plenty of time for Christmas with Mayor of Aylesbury, Anders Christensen, joining school pupil and competition winner Sabah from nearby Haydon Abbey School for the official ribbon cutting to mark the opening.

The team at Sainsbury’s Aylesbury Gatehouse is welcoming customers through the doors of the impressive new 50,000 sq. ft supermarket.

Local school pupil Sabah won a competition to design a limited-edition Sainsbury’s bag for life to mark the launch of the new store. And the first 500 customers to pass through the entrance were lucky enough to take home a copy of her winning design.

Sainsbury’s Aylesbury Gatehouse is situated to the west of the existing Sainsbury’s supermarket in Aylesbury Town Centre. Sainsbury’s says the Aylesbury town centre store will remain open and 'together the two stores will serve all the needs of the local community'.

Sainsbury’s plans to become Net Zero in its own operations by 2035 and the technology within the new Aylesbury Gatehouse supermarket has been designed and installed to support this.

The new store is Sainsbury’s latest investment in Aylesbury, further cementing the services it provides to the area and representing a substantial boost for the local economy. Almost 90% of the store’s colleagues are new to Sainsburys and most of the new store team live locally in Aylesbury.

Food at the heart

With over 45,000 products available to choose from throughout the new store, Sainsbury’s Aylesbury Gatehouse will bring the very best in customer choice to the local community.

Food is at the heart of Sainsbury’s and the supermarket features a ‘Fresh Food Market’ with an extensive range of fresh fruit and veg, food-to-go and an in-store bakery selling bread and cakes baked on the premises. There is also an enticing section of branded and own-brand grocery products from dairy to deli favourites, frozen food, confectionary and savoury snacks, all of which include lots of vegetarian, vegan and free-from options.

General merchandise and clothing

Alongside its impressive food offer, Sainsbury’s Aylesbury Gatehouse features an in-store Starbucks as well as Sainsbury’s iconic Habitat range selling modern classics for the home. There’s also a Tu clothing department which will stock the latest wardrobe trends for all the family all year round, a stylish beauty section and an instore Argos, bringing even more convenience and choice to customers in Aylesbury.

Sainsbury’s in the community

The Sainsbury’s team in Aylesbury Gatehouse is looking forward to playing an active role in the local community and will support Sainsbury’s nationwide community programmes and charity partners. From the day of opening, the store will take part in Sainsbury’s Food Donation Programme, distributing surplus food from the store to local charity Aylesbury Vineyard Storehouse. This relationship has been established as part of Sainsbury’s nationwide partnership with Neighbourly, which works to reduce the amount of food waste within stores’ operations and helps support local charity partners within communities across the UK. The programme has already donated the equivalent of 373,036 meals since it was first launched in August this year.

Patrick Dunne, Sainsbury’s property director said: “We are delighted to be opening our newest store today. It’s an exciting time of year in retail and the store looks brilliantly set to deliver for customers during the festive season.

“I would like to thank everyone in the community for their support and understanding throughout the construction phase. We are so proud of the store and we’re all really looking forward to hearing our customers’ feedback.”

Claire Fielder, Sainsbury’s Aylesbury Gatehouse store manager said: “The Aylesbury Gatehouse team have thoroughly enjoyed welcoming customers through the doors of the new store today, with many people queuing up before the store opened. We are proud to be able to provide a wide range of high-quality products at great prices and are looking forward to playing an important role in the Aylesbury community.”

Anders Christensen, Mayor of Aylesbury said: “In my capacity as Mayor of Aylesbury, I was honoured to have the opportunity to officially open the new Aylesbury Gatehouse supermarket on behalf of the local community. The new store will provide a real boost to the local community, and we look forward to working closely with the store’s management team in the future."

Councillor Martin Tett, leader of Buckinghamshire Council said: “It’s fantastic that Sainsbury’s have opened their new Aylesbury Gatehouse store, which is a welcome addition to the community and will provide greater shopping choice for Aylesbury”.

Rob Butler, Member of Parliament for Aylesbury said: “I'm delighted that Sainsbury is making such a substantial investment in Aylesbury, bringing new jobs at an important time for our local economy.

“Congratulations to everyone who has been involved in building and setting up the store over the last few months; I'm sure it will soon become a very popular addition to Aylesbury's retail offer.”

You can get a first look at the new store in our pictures on this article. But keep your eyes on The Bucks Herald today as we bring you an exclusive gallery of pictures from the store opening.