THE East of England Co-operative Society has completed a £1.4million extension and refit at its food store in Elmswell. The new-look store open is due to open today, with improvements to the car park and the rest of the site due to be completed in the autumn.

THE East of England Co-operative Society has completed a £1.4million extension and refit at its food store in Elmswell.

The new-look store open is due to open today, with improvements to the car park and the rest of the site due to be completed in the autumn.

The extension has doubled the size of the store to 4,400 sq ft to meet the demand, with new features including a salad bar, hot food to go and products from local craft bakers Reads of Framlingham. The Society's commitment to local sourcing is reflected further in the store stocking products from Tastes of Anglia, the regional food and drink marketing group, to promote the sourcing of local products from East Anglia.

The ranges of products already on sale in the food store will also be expanded, including enhanced ranges of greengrocery, chilled and frozen foods, and the store will also continue to stock Cuisine de France high quality continental style bread and morning goods which are freshly baked on the premises.

Richard Samson, society chief executive, said: “Our commitment to updating our Elmswell store is the latest stage in our multi-million pound, self-funded development programme right across East Anglia.

“We have also just relaunched our Felixstowe development where more than £1.2 million was spent on our Supermarket, Pharmacy, Optical, Home Store and Petrol Forecourt, and are about to embark on an upgrade to our Wivenhoe Food Store costing upwards of £200,000.”