Crawshaws to open Birchwood store as part of £200m expansion strategy

Crawshaws, the fresh meat and food-to-go retailer, is set to expand with a new 1,400 sq ft store in Birchwood Shopping Centre.

Opening its doors on February 15, the launch will create 18 jobs and add a 40th branch to the company’s UK-wide portfolio.

The £250k investment in Birchwood forms part of the Rotherham-headquartered firm’s long-term growth strategy, through which it plans to invest £200m and open 200 new stores, potentially creating around 2,500 jobs.

The firm’s CEO, Noel Collett, is the driving force behind the expansion. He joined Crawshaws last year after spending 12 years with Lidl, where he helped grow the supermarket chain’s store network from 200 to 600.

Commenting on the latest opening, Noel said: “Birchwood is the ideal location for our opening, with over 4.5m shoppers visiting the shopping complex each year, we’re confident we can offer all of them something new and exciting.”

The centre manager at Birchwood Shopping Centre, Gary Jones, said the addition of Crawshaws means the retail hub is now fully let.

He continued: “We know from our customer research that our shoppers want a butchers and complemented with Crawshaws’ food to go offer, we’re confident customers will be delighted with their arrival.”