The new 30,000 sq ft Booths supermarket in Hale Barns will open at 10am tomorrow.
The Preston-headquartered retailer will open its 31st store in a special ceremony that will see 103-year-old Lillian Barrow, who has shopped at Booths for nearly 60 years, welcomed as the store’s first customer by chairman Edwin Booth. Booth will arrive at the store for a photo call in a branded horse and cart.
Lillian lives 200 yards from the new store and puts her longevity down to “dark chocolate and determination”.
The Hale Barns Booths store, which forms the centrepiece of the new Hale Barns Square, has created over 90 new jobs in the area. The new store manager is Matthew Welsh, who joined the company 20 years ago.
Below: The new Booths store today
Since June 1847, six generations of the Booths family have led E H Booth & Co from humble beginnings to its present portfolio of stores across Lancashire, Cumbria, Yorkshire, Cheshire and Greater Manchester.
Among the local suppliers to be sold in the new store are Cheshire Farm Chips, Burt’s Cheese, Tatton Brewery, Cheshire Farm Ice Cream, Hayman’s Gin, H Forman and Sons, Osem UK, Roots Vegetable Crisps, Huntapac Produce Ltd, local beetroot grower H & P Ascroft, Boutinot Wines, Dunbia, Neve Fleetwood seafood, Spanish Passion and Heler Cheese.
The new store contains a café and fresh food counters, including a butcher, fishmonger, delicatessen, hot food and cheesemonger, alongside a “new approach” to showcasing wine, beer and spirits.
Opening hours will be 8am-10pm Monday to Saturday, and 9.30am to 4pm on a Sunday (with the first half-hour browsing-only).
Below: More pictures of the new Booths store
