Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Total sales excluding fuel for Waitrose & Partners were down 9.9% last week (to Saturday March 30) compared with the same week last year.
The supermarket group’s supply chain director Wim van Aalst said: “Comparisons are heavily distorted by the earlier fall of Easter last year, which means that we are comparing against Easter week in 2018.
“Mother’s Day flowers were up 10% compared to the equivalent week last year. Shoppers also treated their mums to a variety of other gifts including luxury toiletry gifts and gin.
“With Spring well and truly under way and the country enjoying warmer weather, sales of ice cream, ice cubes, salads and soft fruit were also up.
“This week we’ll be launching a Hot Cross Bun flavoured Wensleydale cheese on our cheese counters and on Waitrose.com – a perfect way to spice up a cheese board for Easter gatherings.”
Alice Shrubsall, cheese buyer at Waitrose & Partners, explained: “Sweet treats often go hand in hand with Easter celebrations; it’s a sweet-toothed shopper’s favourite season. But we wanted to give shoppers who enjoy the more savoury things in life an Easter treat too.
“Easter is the second biggest occasion of the year for family gatherings, so we know our shoppers are on the look-out for something unique to serve their guests.
“This cheese is a great example of this. The sweet ingredients work really well with a rich, creamy cheese like Wensleydale, so we’ve combined the taste of one of our shoppers’ favourite Easter treats with the cheese. The result is a surprisingly delicate spiced cheese: a perfect grown-up alternative to chocolate.”
The seasonally spiced Wensleydale is created by cheesemakers at The Wensleydale Creamery, an award-winning, independent traditional cheese-maker that specialises in blending cheese with unusual ingredients.
Launching today (Thursday April 4), the Yorkshire Wensleydale Hot Cross Bun Truckle (200g) is priced at £3.
