£12m investment will keep jobs and money in Londonderry and people want us: ASDA

It also says a recent independent poll by local polling company LucidTalk Ltd showed almost one third of local people currently shop at ASDA stores outside the city.

The store in Crescent Link Retail Park will create up to 350 new full and part time badly needed jobs for local people and bring great value, low prices and consumer choice to the residents of the City.

Londonderry remains an unemployment black spot with statistics showing that the amount of people claiming the dole here was 8.1 per cent of all working age people last month.

Lisa Rooke, ASDA’s Senior Property Communications Manager, said that the store had the potential to stimulate real economic growth in the area and revitalise the existing retail park.

“ASDA is committed to Londonderry and our proposal for the Crescent Link Retail Park will finally give shoppers real supermarket choice.”

Ms Rooke added: “Our £12 million investment will also help to strengthen the local economy by keeping consumer spend in the city.”

The LucidTalk poll of 1017 local people, carried out between 4 and 11 January, also found that: 81 per cent of local people supported ASDA’s plans for a store at Crescent Link retail park: 81 per cent of local people would like to see more choice when it comes to supermarket shopping in Londonderry.

Ms Rooke also said she had been greatly encouraged by the public’s response to ASDA’s plans for Crescent Link and the company would continue to engage with the local community, as she believed there was strong local demand for ASDA to come to the city.

“The economic benefits don’t stop with jobs and consumer choice,” Ms Rooke continued. “In Northern Ireland, our stores sell over 700 local products, delivered direct to store by around 60 different suppliers.”

She added: “These account for a significant percentage of our total sales in Northern Ireland and range from iconic local brands such as Tayto crisps and Cookstown sausages to products from smaller producers that supply only a handful of stores. We hope this will grow when our Crescent Link store opens.”

ASDA also believes that the new store will not have a significant impact on the city centre as its stores tend to compete with other major food stores that provide a similar offer.

The smaller-scale local shops in the city would continue to meet the need for more day-to-day top up shopping for residents living nearby.

Ms Rooke concluded by saying: “This development on an existing retail park will provide jobs not only in the ASDA store, but also by revitalizing the retail park through a new offer as well as through our local suppliers.

“It will keep over £7 million pound of consumer spend within the city through the £12million investment ASDA is keen to make.

“But most importantly it is a choice that the public are fully behind and that we believe it is the smart choice for the city.”