In September 2009, Duchy Originals, the struggling organic food business started by Prince Charles was rescued by Waitrose, which has agreed to an exclusive deal to stock the range, and to pay a small fee to charity.

In May 2009, Waitrose started a franchise deal with the motorway service station operator Welcome Break.

On the 6th April 2010 worked started on the new Waitrose store which will be situated on Well Road on the old site of the hovercraft development building, the new store will be 18, 000sq and is set to open in the Autumn.

Recruitment for jobs for the new Waitrose Store started during August / September 2010 there were 160 jobs going throughout the store and over 800 people applied.

* The first Waitrose store in the UK was in Acton.

Founded in 1904 by Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor, Waitrose began as a small grocery store, Waite, Rose & Taylor, in Acton, West London.

In October 2011, Waitrose opened a Dot. com Fulfilment Centre in Acton, West London, less than 2 miles from its original store.

Lymington has a wide range of shops and a large street market on the High Street, as well as three supermarkets: Waitrose, Tesco, and M & S Simply Food.

Off the High Street is the Ryemarket shopping centre which houses a number of shops including a Waitrose and WH Smith.

The Victorian High Street has retained a number of local shops, such as Morgan-Westley, The Outlet, Juicy Jones, Careys DIY and Zebra, despite some larger DIY chains and supermarkets being built — Homebase, Argos, Waitrose, Dreams, New Look, Peacocks and Pets at Home.

The station is at the higher end of High Street, between Waitrose and St George's Church.

While the original store was being completely rebuilt Waitrose opened a temporary store, around 200m down the High Street, in a building vacated by the defunct Woolworths retail chain.

There is a bust of Elizabeth I in the newly developed Charter Walk, linking West Street with the car park alongside Waitrose.

The Bedford Street area was substantially redeveloped in 2006 / 2007, with the demolition of a Shell petrol station, shopping arcade and small Budgens supermarket, to make way for a new Waitrose supermarket, an improved town car park and a development of shops and apartments known as Oxlet House.

For example, the smallest branch, little Waitrose Fitzroy Street, Cambridge, occupies of retail space and the largest, Southend-on-Sea, over.

The proposed development would situated near Waitrose just off the A45 on the site of a former dry ski slope which has been derelict for some years.

The trackbed to Stratford is blocked by a road, and the trackbed through Cheltenham, while mostly intact, is in need of expensive rehabilitation and reconstruction, with the primary impediment being a bowstring bridge, unusable by rail, near the Waitrose store built on the site of the old St. James station.

It is the most upmarket part of Cheam commercially, with its shopping and catering facilities including Waitrose, Majestic Wine Warehouse, Costa Coffee, Prezzo and Pizza Express, as well as many independent establishments.

Streatham became the site of the UK's first supermarket, when Express Dairies Premier Supermarkets opened its first store in 1951 ; Waitrose subsequently opened its first supermarket in Streatham in 1955.

John Lewis Partnership purchased 19 to be part of its Waitrose chain, while Sainsbury's purchased a further 14, and Tesco bought 10 in October 2004.

Once Rushden was home to one of the five Safeway megastores in the country until they were bought by Wm Morrison ; the store was then bought by Waitrose and turned into one of its five Food and Home stores which included a selection of home products from John Lewis.

Recently, however, John Lewis has broadened its marketing strategy towards all types of buyers, with the introduction of the ' Value ' range to John Lewis and the ' Essential ' range to Waitrose, and with the expansion of the business.

In October 2011, Waitrose opened a Fulfilment Centre in West London as part of its Waitrose. com Online Delivery Service.

Previously its online shopping services was provided by certain Waitrose Branches.

Updated weekly it would seek to convince consumers that shopping in Waitrose on everyday items would be no more expensive than shopping in Tesco by directly matching the price with that of its rival.

Waitrose donates a portion of its profits to a group of charities on a proportional basis, whilst individual Waitrose branches manage their own charitable donations and local decisions are made on which charities are to be supported.

Announcing its foray into the convenience sector in July 2008, Waitrose opened its first convenience store in Nottingham in December of that year.

Waitrose operates its own delivery service, Waitrose. com ( previously WaitroseDeliver ), which is only available in certain stores, delivering goods ordered through the Internet and serviced from the local branch.

Greenpeace took its campaign to major food retailers and quickly won agreement from McDonald's along with UK-retailers Asda, Waitrose, and Marks & Spencer to stop buying meat raised on Amazonian soya.

Waitrose knocked down its store after its short 16-year life and replaced it with a much bigger one.

However when Morrison's and Waitrose supermarkets re-introduced Lime Crusha in spring 2010 it rapidly established itself as its highest selling flavour.

Some of the facilities and infrastructures include: shops, mobile library, community hall, children's play centre, pub, health centre, St. Andrew's Church ( with its A2 Youth & Community Centre ), Lakers Youth Centre, Waitrose supermarket, garage, lake, recreation grounds, field hockey pitch, football pitch, cricket pitch, offices, trading estate, chemist, hairdressers, scout and Guide hall, canal, recycling facilities, children's playgrounds, basketball court, skateboard area, skateboard ramp.

Waitrose have a longstanding branch in the town centre, and Tesco have opened an ' Express ' branch in the old Woolworths store.

Waitrose branch

Much of the original Abingdon branch line is now a cyclepath, whilst the land on which the station stood has been extensively redeveloped, and is now the site of a large Waitrose store and surrounded by a large number of new flats and houses.

On 18 July 2006, a further six stores from the ' Rump ' format were sold to Waitrose, including the former Safeway store in Hexham, Northumberland, which became the most northerly Waitrose branch in England.

Every employee is a partner in the John Lewis Partnership, and has a possibility to influence the business through branch forums, which discuss local issues at every store, and the divisional John Lewis and Waitrose Councils.

The first phase was the construction of a health club on the Buckhold Road frontage ( let to Virgin Active ), and securing conditional agreement for a 35, 000 sq ft branch of Waitrose ( who signed the lease in December 2001 as the first ' new ' anchor tenant, and opened in 2004 ).

The main shopping street includes a branch of Waitrose and some smaller shops, several restaurants, banks, charity shops, a post office, a number of estate agents, solicitors, opticians, betting shops, an insurance broker and two public houses, the Railway Arms and the White Hart.

His practice was responsible for many landmark buildings such as the Saville Theatre, Esso House, John Barnes Department store, Hampstead ( since 1986, a branch of Waitrose ), Westminster Hospital, a BOAC air terminal, the London Mormon Temple in Surrey and Hawkins House in Dublin.

The largest store is a branch of Waitrose.