Screwfix to open three new trade counters in one day
Published: 8 July 2019 - Fiona Garcia
The Kingfisher-owned chain is set to open four new branches this month, with three officially opening their doors on July 18.
The first new site will begin trading this week, on Thursday, July 11 on Warminster Business Park and will be managed by Jon Savidge.
The following week, Screwfix will ramp up expansion, with new trade counters opening in Emersons Green in Bristol, Rochester Business Park in Kent, and Coleshill Industrial Estate in Warwickshire on Thursday, July 18.
All three stores, managed by Steve Bird, Mandy Ridgewell, and Steve Munday respectively, will celebrate their opening with 10% off all product ranges from Thursday, until Sunday, July 21.
The new openings will create a total of 32 new jobs, with each store taking on between eight and nine new staff.
Screwfix has said it is “confident” it has chosen great locations for all of the new sites. Vertex Retail Estate in Emersons Green has proved particularly popular, with a new Toolstation branch set to open just days earlier on July 15.
In the lead up to the official openings, the teams at all of the trade counters have been working to get to know local businesses and tradespeople in order to hit the ground running once trading begins later this month.
The openings follow news last month that Screwfix would be scrapping its DIY Express store format. Confirming the decision to axe the dedicated DIY brand altogether, a Kingfisher spokesperson told DIY Week that “the focus is firmly on the Screwfix format.”
Screwfix reported a sales uplift of 9.6% in Q1 with LFL at +4.5% and four new outlets opening in the UK between January and April 2019, adding to its growing network of over 620 stores nationwide. Since then, the business has opened a further two sites, in Linlithgow and Towcester.