Asda will create 7,000 new jobs and open 25 new stores across the UK this year.
The first new store will open in Fleetwood, Lancashire, on Monday.
The group plans new shops in Feltham, Newton Abbot and Hounslow in the first wave. It will also open its first food-only store, Asda Essentials, in Northampton in the next two months.
This echoes Marks &Spencer’s Simply Food concept and will stock 95% Asda own-brand items.
Its plan also includes further town centre and regeneration schemes.
In Romford, 229 apartments, a third listed as affordable housing will be built alongside a new store in a £25m investment scheme.
The company is also involved in the Blenheim Centre, a £220 million mixed-use development in Hounslow, Middlesex. The first non-food store, Asda Living, will open in Glasgow in spring and an additional two George high street stores will also open in 2006 in Middlesborough and Southend.
Spokeswoman Judith McKenna said, “Our 2006 programme further demonstrates our commitment to flexible formats, mixed use and regeneration schemes enabling us to create more jobs.”
Two hundred and fifty new jobs will also be created through extension schemes at ASDA stores in Bodmin, Broadstairs, Pentwyn, Dumbarton and Coventry.
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