News: Retailer revamps another Rotherham store

Grocery retailer Asda has announced that Rotherham will be the latest location to welcome its new stand-alone George concept store, as the retailer continues the transformation of its Asda Living portfolio across the UK.

Launching at 9am on Thursday 1 October, the Rotherham store will be the final George stand-alone opening of 2026. The store follows a succession of well received Asda Living store transformations across the UK, where customers have responded positively to the enhanced shopping experience, expanded product ranges and modern store environment.

Asda has already transformed its other Rotherham store at Cortonwood using the stand-alone George store concept.

Situated at the town’s Parkgate Retail Park, the latest store will offer a dedicated destination for fashion and home shoppers. It will bring together an extensive range of George clothing for women, men and children alongside a significantly expanded George Home collection.

Customers will benefit from larger clothing ranges across all departments, including substantial growth in the store’s womenswear and menswear offering. The home department will also feature a much broader selection of bedding and small domestic appliances, as well as expanded ranges across the wider George Home collection.

The store will also stock George’s exclusive new clothing collaboration with broadcaster and former premier league footballer, Micah Richards, which launched across selected stores on Monday 14 September.

Designed to make shopping easier and more inspiring, the new format will include dedicated homeware and bedroom displays and a combined character and toy shop.

The investment forms part of Asda’s ongoing commitment to growing the George brand and creating contemporary retail spaces that showcase its fashion and home collections while delivering a more convenient and enjoyable experience for customers.

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George commercial director Karl Doyle said: “We’re excited to bring our stand-alone George store concept to Rotherham and give local customers an even better way to shop our fashion and home collections.

“Our customers are loving the new stores and have responded particularly well to the expanded clothing and home ranges. The way the stores are presented creates an improved shopping experience, giving customers more opportunities to browse and find inspiration.

“This investment reflects our commitment to growing the George brand and continually improving the experience we offer customers and we look forward to welcoming Rotherham shoppers through the doors in October.”

To allow the transformation work to take place, the store closed at on Saturday 19 September before reopening as a stand-alone George store at 9am on Thursday 1 October.

On opening day, the first 500 customers to spend £5 or more from 9am will receive a golden ticket, with the chance to win £5–£500 to spend in-store.

Celebrations continue from 10am on Saturday 3 October with a high-energy cyclone challenge, where customers can win George gift vouchers and other prizes. There’ll also be a live DJ on both days to mark the occasion and create a party atmosphere for customers.

The Rotherham opening will be the seventh Asda Living store in the UK to be transformed into a stand-alone George store and the second in South Yorkshire, following the launch of the new George store in Barnsley in August.

It marks the latest milestone in Asda’s plans to strengthen the George brand and create exciting new shopping destinations for customers across the country.

George website Images: Asda

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News: Clothing retailer revamps Rotherham store

Asda has selected Rotherham as the latest location for a new standalone George concept store.

The new format features expanded ranges, a contemporary layout, improved services, and reflects Asda’s strategy to transition its Asda Living estate into George destinations.

At Cortonwood Retail Park, which is in Rotherham, a special opening event was held last month for the new store which has been created in the Asda Living unit.

Asda is accelerating plans to open ten standalone George concept stores this year, as the retailer continues its plans to replace its Asda Living brand portfolio across the UK.

The move follows the strong performance of the first two stand-alone George stores, which opened in Leeds and Hull in 2025 and delivered an overwhelmingly positive customer response.

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A spokesperson from Asda said: "The transformation reflects Asda’s continued investment in creating inspiring, easy-to-shop environments that celebrate its hero non-food categories. From everyday wardrobe essentials to trend-led seasonal pieces and contemporary home interiors, the new concept store aims to deliver quality, style and value synonymous with the George brand."

Customers can expect a significantly expanded clothing offer across womenswear, menswear and childrenswear, alongside a broader George Home range featuring an even wider selection of interiors and lifestyle products. Shoppers will also be able to discover the latest fashion launches, including the Yasmin Le Bon and Amber Le Bon collections and Stacey Solomon’s exclusive George Home ranges.

George is the UK's third-largest clothing retailer by volume and the country's largest childrenswear retailer, serving millions of customers through 580 Asda stores and six standalone George stores. The brand also has ambitious growth plans, including opening 100 standalone locations in the next five years.

The retailer also operates from a standalone Asda Living store at Parkgate in Rotherham. No date has been given for a transition to George.

Asda website

Images: Asda

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News: Rotherham Co-Op site acquired as part of multimillion pound Asda deal

Asda has confirmed that it has completed the acquisition of 132 grocery retail sites, with attached petrol stations, from The Co-Op. The £600m deal includes a site in Rotherham.

The acquisition, which was initially announced at the end of August, is part of a strategy to enter the convenience retail space and create an exciting new part of the Asda business that brings Asda value to more Asda communities.

The deal includes 129 high-quality existing sites across the UK with a retail store of between 1,500 and 3,000 sq ft and attached petrol stations.

The petrol station and Co-op store at Aston is one of those acquired.

The Worksop Road location has had numerous frontages over the years, including Jet and Texaco. It was redeveloped to include a minisupermarket after plans were approved in 2008 and was operated by Somerfield (the retailer taken over by The Co-op in 2009).

The circa 2,300 colleagues currently employed by The Co-op will move to Asda’s employment under TUPE transfer in the coming months, following consultation with USDAW.

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Whilst the sale of the sites has now formally completed and Asda owns the 132 sites, the deal remains subject to regulatory approval from the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority). The CMA has issued an ‘Initial Enforcement Order’ requiring that the Co-Op sites remain entirely separate from Asda whilst the CMA conducts it investigation into the deal – a process that is expected to take until mid-2023.

During that time the sites will be run separately to the Asda business and only following formal approval of the transaction will colleagues be able to transfer to Asda’s employment and the stores made part of the Asda estate.

Mohsin Issa, co-owner of Asda said; “We are delighted to formally complete the transaction that we announced in August and taking the next step on our journey to creating a new and exciting part of our Asda business.

"As millions of families deal with the day-to-day impacts of increasing costs of living, we’re committed to bringing Asda’s great value groceries and fuel to even more communities across the UK through these new stores. Over the last five years we’ve been consistently ranked as one of the cheapest providers of fuel in the UK and have been voted the Grocer’s best priced supermarket for 25 years in a row – meaning customers in these communities can look forward to saving millions annually on the cost of filling their shopping trolleys and tanks when Asda comes to town.

“We look forward to working collaboratively with the CMA on their investigation and to welcoming our new Asda colleagues to our great business in the coming months.”

Asda website

Images: Google Maps

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News: Rotherham first in queue for one-hour Express Delivery service

Asda has become the first supermarket to offer its full online product range available for Express Delivery giving its customers faster and more convenient delivery options - and Rotherham is one of the first places to get delivery within an hour.

Customers living within a three-mile radius of the Halifax, Rotherham and Poole stores can order up to 70 items from Asda.com for Express Delivery within an hour. They can also order a larger basket and select a slot within the next four hours, with no limit on the number of items able to be purchased.

Asda bosses said that there is potential to quickly roll out the service to more stores if it proves popular with customers.

Express Delivery customers will also benefit from a new feature enabling them to track the progress of their order from store to doorstep in real time.

Each delivery will be charged at the flat rate of £8.50 and there is no minimum spend per basket. One hour delivery is subject to slot availability, distance from an Asda store and the number of items selected.

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In addition to launching a new Express Delivery service, Asda is also extending its partnership with Uber Eats from 200 to more than 300 stores, offering customers the opportunity to shop a range of 500 products including fruit, vegetables, beer, wine and spirits and meal solutions for rapid delivery.

Simon Gregg, Asda’s Vice President of Online Grocery, said: “After successfully trialling an Express Delivery service, we know this is something that our customers want as part of our online grocery proposition and we are delighted to be able to offer this service to even more customers.

“The launch of our new Express Delivery service and extension of our existing partnership with Uber Eats to 300 stores means that customers can get their order delivered to the doorstep at market-leading pace.”

Express Delivery is the latest innovative move in grocery delivery from Asda. Earlier this year the retailer also announced it was trialling unattended deliveries to allow customers to receive their regular shop whilst away from home. Customers invited to take part in the trial can order through Asda.com and have their items delivered within a four-hour window to a secure, lockable box, which maintains the correct product temperature and is unaffected by hot or cold weather.

Asda website

Images: Google Maps

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News: Rotherham supermarket saved by sprinklers

Fire officers are repeating calls for businesses to fit sprinklers, after the devices saved a Rotherham supermarket from suffering a serious blaze.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue (SYFR) firefighters attended the incident at Asda Rotherham, Aldwarke Lane in July after a fryer caught fire in the cafe.

But the fire was already out when crews from Rotherham and Dearne stations arrived, there was virtually no fire or water damage and the store was quickly reopened - all thanks to sprinklers which had been fitted to suppress the fire.

Amy Jenkinson, business fire safety manager at South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, said: "The fire suppression systems installed by Asda were sophisticated, worked effectively and completely extinguished the fire. There is no doubt that having sprinkler systems like this in place can save businesses massive amounts of time and money by limiting losses of stock and custom in the event that a fire does occur."

The fire service added that sprinklers are the most effective way of ensuring that fires are suppressed or even extinguished before the fire service can arrive. They save lives and reduce injuries, protect firefighters who attend incidents and reduce the amount of damage to both property and the environment from fire.

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Currently, only commercial premises greater than 20,000 sq m (215,000 sq ft) must have sprinkler systems installed. SYFR adopted a position statement last year which specifically advocated the use of sprinklers and other fire suppression systems in non-domestic premises and high-risk residential settings.

SYFR offers a number of services aimed at businesses. Part of that includes promoting better understanding of the benefits of sprinklers, encouraging building owners, developers, architects and designers to incorporate sprinkler systems where there is a risk-based case for doing so, particularly where the risks to people are unacceptable high, or where there is a clear business case in terms of cost and benefit.

The position statement added: "Irrespective of size, there is a compelling case to be made for sprinklers in any commercial premises, on the basis of loss of production or interruption to business as a result of fire. Approximately 85% of small and medium businesses suffering a serious fire either never recover or cease trading within 18 months.

"The installation of sprinklers in these types of premises will aid growth in the economy as fewer businesses will cease to trade, losses from fire will reduce and fewer businesses will be forced to relocate. The impact of the loss of trade and jobs to the economy of South Yorkshire can be minimised by the installation of sprinklers."

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue website

Images: SYFR

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News: ASDA Living launches at Parkgate Shopping

Asda Living's brand new store at Parkgate Shopping in Rotherham launched last week with the mayor officially opening the store with local primary school teacher, Natalie Garbutt of High Greave Junior School, who was nominated by her pupils and fellow staff.

The 38,000 sq ft non-food store has created 81 jobs in the community and will combine George clothing, home ware and furnishings plus a cafe.

Stephen Davies, manager at the store, said: "I'd like to thank all our colleagues for their hard work getting the store ready for the opening and it has been a real pleasure sharing the celebrations with the Mayor and Mayoress, Natalie and High Greave Junior School.

"Our feet haven't touched the ground over the last few months but we are delighted to be able to welcome customers through the door now. It was extremely encouraging to see the number of people queuing to enter the store and we hope we can be a worthwhile addition to the community."

The Mayor of Rotherham, Councillor Shaun Wright added: "I am extremely pleased to have been invited to declare the store officially open. Asda has a long association with Rotherham and I am sure with the addition of this new store it will continue to have a positive impact in the community – creating new jobs for local people is the perfect way to start."

The latest openings include a 5,000 sq ft Maplin store and a 53,000 sq ft Currys Megastore. The a 47,000 sq ft Best Buy unit, which only opened in July is set to close by the end of the year.

Owners, British Land are also hoping to secure planning permission for a 3,500 sq ft Frankie and Benny's restaurant. Further big name retailers are preparing to move in to the park that ranked as the third best in the UK in a recent report.

Parkgate Shopping website

Images: parkgateshopping.co.uk

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News: Rotherham Netto stores to change hands

Three Netto supermarkets in Rotherham are to set to change hands after the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) announced a major milestone in Asda's purchase of Netto's UK stores.



Subject to final OFT approval, 147 Netto stores in the UK will be converted to Asda Supermarkets by late Autumn 2011 including Rotherham stores at Parkgate and Wath.

Asda announced the deal, reported to be worth £778m, in May 2010 and the retailer plans to significantly increase the number of people employed at each of their Netto stores as part of plans to create 7,500 new jobs across the UK in 2011.

Judith McKenna, Asda chief financial officer, who led the deal said: "We're delighted that we're one step closer to completing our acquisition of the Netto stores, which will allow us to provide even more space, choice and savings to our millions of customers in the UK."

Asda has offered to sell 47 Netto stores across the UK after the OFT raised concerns that competition could be substantially reduced in areas where there are overlapping Asda stores.

As a result, the Netto store on Fitzwilliam Road has been sold to the Haldanes Retail Group and is set to be branded under their "UGO" name. Haldanes took on a number of stores when the Co-operative Group sold outlets following its acquisition of Somerfield in 2009.

Arthur Harris, CEO of The Haldanes Retail Group, said: "UGO will be a flexible, friendly and approachable company with old fashioned ideas and ethics reconstructed where necessary to encompass a modern trading format.

"There is an opportunity in the mid size discount supermarket sector to do something special and I think UGO, with its established store teams, is the brand that can do it."

Netto were progressing plans to relocate the store to larger premises on a former car showroom site nearby.

Asda website
Haldanes website

Images: asda.com

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