ICELAND has confirmed The Food Warehouse will replace the Barry Waitrose store which is set to close on Sunday, June 9 this year.

The Food Warehouse, which bills itself as “Iceland's bigger little brother”, will open in the Palmerston Road site in the summer of 2020.

Retail giant Waitrose announced, in March this year, that it would close after almost 15 years of serving the Barry community.

Store bosses then confirmed that it had exchanged contracts to sell its Palmerston Road store to Anlo Properties, which, a Waitrose spokesman at the time said: “regrettably means we will close.”

Anlo Properties informed Waitrose that they would be undertaking works to the unit for an extended period of time.

A Waitrose spokesman said, in March, that it would meet with its 122 Partners who work at the store to ensure they were fully supported.

It also said it would identify suitable opportunities for those wishing to remain with the business wherever possible.

Waitrose & Partners regional manager, Alistair Bullock said: “We have taken great pride in being part of the Barry community for almost 15 years so the sale of the shop is not something we take lightly, but we have sadly not been able to find a way to make the shop commercially sustainable in the long-term.”

The Food Warehouse offers free parking, exclusive products, and a bigger choice in food and homeware.

Iceland director of corporate affairs, Keith Hann re-confirmed that the purchaser of the Waitrose store in Barry was Anlo Properties, and that Richard Walker is a director of that company as well as being joint managing director of Iceland Foods.

Mr Hann said: “Iceland Foods itself was not a party to the sale agreement.

“However, I can now confirm that it is our intention to open one of our larger format The Food Warehouse stores on the site, and this is expected to open in summer 2020.”

The Food Warehouse already has stores in the City Link Retail Park, Newport Road, Cardiff, and the Cardiff Bay Retail Park, in Ferry Road.