New Sainsbury's in Dumfries Retail Park

NewRiver announces a new letting to Sainsbury's at Cuckoo Bridge Retail park in Dumfries, creating the first Sainsbury's store in the area.

Sainsbury's has taken a new 15 year lease on the former Homebase store on improved rental terms 60% above both the previous rent of Homebase and valuer's ERV.

The new Sainsbury's store will deliver a new high-quality, yet affordable new grocery offer to Dumfries, complementing the existing strong offer including B&M, Dunelm, Food Warehouse, Costa Coffee and a Next click & collect pod.  Cuckoo Bridge Retail Park is well-located serving as the dominant retail park in Dumfries.

Sainsbury's has submitted a change of use application to Dumfries and Galloway Council and subject to approval, the new store is due to open in early 2026, and will create new jobs with the supermarket employing a team of at least 100 Sainsbury's colleagues.

NewRiver owns 13 retail parks and managers a further 18 retail parks on behalf of its capital partners.  Cuckoo Bridge Retail Park in Dumfries was acquired by NewRiver in June 2016 and is owned 100% on balance sheet.

Allan Lockhart, CEO of NewRiver, commented, "Sainbury's is one of our leading retail partners and the introduction of a new Sainsbury's to the Dumfries area demonstrates the strength of the UK retail market and role of the physical store network for omni-channel operators.  The new Sainsbury's promptly reactivates the recently vacant Homebase store and will create new jobs and a new supermarket offer for locals, providing high quality, great value products to our consumers.  We continue to see active demand for our retail parks, a sub-sector we expect to continue to grow our investment in."

Patrick Dunne, Sainsbury's Chief Property and Procurement Officer, MD of Smart Change, said, "As we progress with our Next Level Sainsbury's plan, and our commitment to bring morre of our food offer to more customers, we are focused on delivering fantastic new supermarkets in key locations where we know the will succeed.  This supermarket will showcase some of the best of Sainsbury's and we're excited to bring a new store to Dumfries for the first time.

We have a great pipeline of new store investment planned in Scotland, with three new Scottish Sainsbury's stores opened already in 2025, and we're delighted to have the chance to add another supermarket to it.  We look forward to sharing more details about our plans with elected representatives and the local community in the coming weeks."