Upmarket organic food store to close
AS Nature Intended the upmarket organic food store is closing its only North West outlet.
The store in the affluent Manchester suburb of Hale, which opened in August 2007, will shut this weekend.
It is in the midst of a closing down sale. Around 15 jobs will be lost.
The business, led by Caroline Walker, daughter of Iceland tycoon Malcolm Walker, has three shops in London. The Hale store, ironically located in a former Iceland premises, was to have been the first in a nationwide roll-out.
A member of staff at the shop told TheBusinessDesk: “We’re closing due to lack of footfall really. Our customers are still spending, there’s just not enough of them.
“Hale is not really a destination shopping location.There’s passing trade, but the volume of shoppers just wasn’t good enough.”
Employeeshave can relocate to London, where As Nature Intended has three shops in Ealing, Chiswick and Balham, while opportunities with Iceland supermarkets have also been offered, the member of staff said.
He said the opening of a Tesco Express store across the road from As Nature Intended had not been a factor in the store’s poor performance: “Tesco serves an entirely different market.”
