Waitrose Hopwood Park (14 Feb 2010). Photograph by Mark Leaver

Weekly updates on the status of Waitrose at Hopwood Park Services on the M42 have become something of a habit lately, thanks to the regular MMSs received from Mark Leaver.

Mark’s latest pic shows the store now trading, following its opening on Friday. Don’t read too much into it being empty of customers, given that the photo was taken just before the store closed for the night at 10pm this evening!

If you need a reminder, the pics below chart the store’s quite impressive transformation over the last three weeks:

A week ago... (7 Feb 2010). Photograph by Mark Leaver

Three weeks ago (24 Jan 2010). Photograph by Mark Leaver

The John Lewis Partnership’s latest weekly update for Waitrose notes that Hopwood Park is its “first Welcome Break franchise of the year”, with others due to follow on the M11 at Birchanger Green (February) and the M3 Southbound at Fleet (March). Previously, I remarked upon the importance of Waitrose’s Welcome Break franchises “replicating as far as possible the excellent customer experience and stock availability offered by its regular shops”, and was curious, I guess, about whether the staff at those stores would still be John Lewis Partners, or whether they would be employed by Welcome Break.

Happily, I think I’ve found the answer. Back in April last year, Waitrose’s Commercial Director, Richard Hodgson, explained that “while the non-management team will be Partners, they will be overseen by non-Partner Welcome Break managers who have expertise in operating in this environment”.

As you would expect from John Lewis, this seems like an eminently sensible approach. Hopefully it will make sure that the Welcome Break Waitrose stores can be responsive to the distinctive environment in which they are operating, while maintaining those core Waitrose values that are at the heart of its employee-owned, partnership model.

Waitrose at Welcome Break's Hopwood Park Services (7 Feb 2010). Photograph by Mark Leaver

I’ve just received the photo above from Mark Leaver, taken on his phone last night at Welcome Break’s Hopwood Park Services on the M42. It shows the new Waitrose store looking more or less ready to be stocked, ahead of its intended opening this week.

Am I right to be quite impressed at the speed of the turnaround, given that only two weeks ago (as you will recall) the store looked like this?:

The same view two weeks ago (24 Jan 2010). Photograph by Mark Leaver

Upcoming Waitrose at Welcome Break's Hopwood Park Services (24 Jan 2010). Photograph by Mark Leaver

Many thanks to Mark Leaver for sending me an MMS with this photo of work underway on the new Waitrose store at Hopwood Park Services on the M42. Supposedly due to open in February (though there looks a fair bit of work to do yet), the store will be the sixth to open under a franchise agreement between Waitrose and the motorway service area operator Welcome Break.

As a fan of Waitrose, I do worry a little about the retailer stretching its brand too thinly – after all, there has to be some point at which Waitrose becomes so ubiquitous it’s no longer a special experience to visit one of its stores.

However, I was quite impressed when I sampled one of the first Welcome Break stores at South Mimms back in May, and appreciated the convenience of being able to pick up some essential items having flown back into the UK late on a Saturday evening.

Looking forward, I suspect that the success of the venture will depend upon Waitrose’s motorway stores replicating as far as possible the excellent customer experience and stock availability offered by its regular shops – something that, in my experience of visiting its equivalent Moto stores, M&S Simply Food does not always manage to achieve.