Waitrose Essentials arrive in Sark
Home to 600 people, the car-free island of Sark is now receiving regular deliveries from Waitrose to meet the demands of residents.
The island’s Food Stop shop has begun stocking Waitrose grocery products after the supermarket started making regular deliveries of chilled, frozen and store cupboard items to the island community.
With no cars on the island, the delivery is taken by tractor-drawn cart to the shop. Run by mother and daughter team Julie and Nikki Baker, Food Stop gained national fame when it featured in the BBC2 programme “An Island Parish”.
Once Julie and Nikki have placed their order, the products are loaded up on to pallets in the UK before making their way by sea, via Guernsey to the Channel Islands.
Nikki said: “We noticed that a lot of islanders were taking specific day trips to the Waitrose branches in Guernsey to stock up on their own-brand products. We thought that having our own stock of Waitrose groceries would be a great for islanders so they don’t have to travel so far to get their favourite items.
“It’s been an absolute hit with all of our customers and it’s great to have things like fresh pasta that we haven’t had delivered to the island previously. Everything is flying off the shelves and our customers know which days the deliveries arrive so, by the time I come in the next day, half the stock is gone!”
David Morton, director, business to business at Waitrose, added: “It’s fantastic to be working with Nikki and Julie at Food Stop. They are at the heart of island life and have given us a great opportunity to sell our products in Sark.”
