New Londis store opens in place of Rodbourne Co-op

The Rodbourne Road store was initially earmarked to be a Nisa Local and had temporarily opened under that banner before shutting in March for work to take place. 

After a month of work, it has now reopened as a Londis convenience store. 

The store reopened last weekend and the initial reaction from members of the public appears to be positive, with several praising the hard work staff members had put in to get it ready. 

Walk-in fridges at the new Londis in Rodbourne (Image: Nina Cope)

One person asked: "How fancy is this Londis?" before going on to praise its big walk-in fridges, and its buggy and wheelchair accessibility. 

Another said: "The new Londis shop is amazing! Walk-in fridges, I know where I'm spending my summer."

Vidhya Prv, from the new store, thanks members of the public for their support with a post on social media, which said: "I am from the new Londis Rodbourne shop. Thank you all for supporting us. I was thankful for Rodbourne's people."

They also shared that a new Facebook group for the store itself had been set up, which can be found under 'Londis Rodbourne'

While the inside, and particularly the walk-in fridges, had received praise, as well as the deals and prices, some residents had asked when the exterior of the store would get as much care and attention as the inside. 

The balloon arch and banner, which has fallen down (Image: Dave Cox)The building on Rodbourne Road at the corner of Hawkins Street had been a Co-op for more than 100 years but after being sold to a new owner in February all of the signage was removed, leaving behind a tatty-looking frontage.

The store had a grand opening complete with a green and white balloon arch, and a new banner has been placed outside saying: "We're open, look forward to seeing you."

On May 1, this banner had fallen down and could be seen flapping in front of the store's doorway. 

One person said: "Can we see an improvement on the outside please?"

And another added: "Agree with outside, however, guess you've been so busy getting inside ready you haven't had time."

Vidhya Prv confirmed that this was set to happen.