AS GREEN Park station gets closer to opening, preparations are continuing as a new convenience store gets ready for its launch this week.
Tesco is open the doors of its Flagstaff Road store on Thursday, February 23, creating 15 jobs.
It will be open daily from 6am to 11pm, and has a bakery, a Costa Coffee Express machine, and offers meal deals, and the ability to purchase lottery tickets.
A short walk from the new railway station, it also serves the community that is being built.
Kelly Elsam, the store’s manager, said that supporting the community’s residents will be important to store staff in the coming years.
“We’re hugely excited to be opening our new Reading Green Park Express to help support the community,” she said.
“The store opening will provide a real boost for Reading, helping to employ and train local people, and it’ll be a pleasure to see our colleagues grow and develop.
“We are really looking forward to welcoming so much new talent and experience into our Tesco team.”
And she promised that the store will play its part to be a good neighbour.
“We will, of course, also promote Tesco’s Community Grants scheme, with the aim of donating thousands of pounds for local good causes that can help the community to flourish.”
The new store is being welcomed to the area by Berkeley Homes, which owns the development under its St Edward brand.
Paul Vallone, executive chairman for St Edward, said: “We are very pleased to have a fantastic British brand like Tesco on our development.
“Residents have the enviable convenience of being able to pick up a sandwich or weekly food shop just a few minutes’ walk from their own front door.”
Community groups in and around Reading are invited to apply for community funding through Community Grants, Tesco’s blue token voting scheme, which sees three local projects voted on by customers in store every three months.
First place is awarded £1,500, second place £1,000 and third place £500.
One of the other Tesco initiatives that will benefit more Reading groups is the Community Food Connection scheme, which is dedicated to redistributing surplus food to charities and community groups from every Tesco store at the end of each day.
Since its launch in 2015, the Tesco Community Food Connection Scheme has donated more than 225,000 meals to local charities in Reading.
The Community Food Connection scheme is run in partnership with food redistribution charity FareShare. Each month more than one million meals’ worth of food are donated across the country.
For more details on the community grants, log on to: escoplc.com/sustainability/communities/tesco-community-grants.
And Tesco’s Community food scheme, visit: https://www.tescoplc.com/sustainability/product/food-waste/supporting-customers-communities/community-food-connection/
