Northern retailer Booths has appointed a manager with more than 25 years of retail experience to run its new store at MediaCityUK.
Richard Ford, 40, who has worked for Booths since 1986, will be in charge of the exciting two-storey store when it opens in MediaCityUK in October this year.
Mr Ford, who until recently managed the Booths Knutsford store, said he was excited by the potential of MediaCityUK and said that the store would present several new challenges.
“It is very exciting and is a whole new challenge for us,” he said. “It will be very interesting as several aspects of the store are very different to any of our other stores. It is the first time Booths have opened a store in a city centre and it is the first time we have created a store on two floors.
“With a lot of our stores the trade builds up during the week to the weekend when people do their big shop. I think it will be interesting to see how the dynamic works at MediaCityUK. We may find that the trade is bigger during the week than at the weekend. However there is also the added factor that there are lots of events happening in Manchester on weekends and that could also add to trade.”
Mr Ford, who, as part of Booths’ investment in its staff, recently obtained a degree in retail from Manchester Metropolitan University, started working for Booths as a student in Windermere. Over the years he has moved through the managerial ranks and has experience working in 13 different Booths stores – managing stores in Blackpool, Kirkby Lonsdale, Kendal and Knutsford.
Mr Ford said he was looking forward to developing his new team and bringing the fresh quality local produce Booths is famous for to shoppers in Manchester.
He said: “Booths is committed to working very closely with local producers to ensure that they benefit from the relationship and that our customers get the best quality goods. We are bringing the very best of the countryside to the people of Salford and Manchester.”
Workers and nearby residents will be able to get an early taste of Booths Country when a special ‘Booths Café’ arrives at MediaCityUK to provide catering at the site later this month.
The Booths Café arrives on June 20 and will be providing sandwiches, salads and breakfast goods freshly prepared that day with local ingredients, together with a selection of hot and cold drinks.
Once the store opens there will be a catering delivery service for offices in and around the area.