Wales

The first Welsh Sainsbury’s store opened in Cwmbran shopping precinct on 30th November 1974, with a full range of food, health and beauty, kitchenware, stationery and homeware products on offer.

There were huge crowds of shoppers for the opening and the first week’s takings exceeded company expectations by 80%. The new store proved attractive to shoppers from a wide area. Cwmbran’s new shopping centre with other big name stores and ample free parking drew in customers from Cardiff and Newport who disliked city centre shopping.

Regional specialities were not ignored: the store stocked locally sourced and slaughtered fresh Welsh lamb in its chilled cabinets. The instore bakery (which was Sainsbury’s fourth) produced fresh bread pudding from a local recipe.

Find out more about regional specialities at Sainsbury's

Store manager Elwyn Davis recruited mostly local staff, and summed up the opening of the store as ‘Bendigedig’, which he translated for non Welsh speakers as ‘Wonderful, great, excellent all rolled into one’.

In 1984, Sainsbury’s helped fund the creation of a mural for the town centre, designed by artist Polly Hope.

During the 1980s, Sainsbury’s position in South Wales was consolidated with the opening of branches in Cardiff, Newport and Swansea. The following decade branches were opened in North Wales at Wrexham (1991) and Rhyl (1993).