The very first Sainsbury's to open in Northern Ireland, the Ballymena store, which in 1996 became the first to carry the name locally, is to receive a £5m investment

The Braidwater Retail Park store will benefit from a new café, pizza bar, food-to-go counter as well as a new deli, bakery and meat and fish counters.

The work will be carried out by local firm McLaughlin & Harvey, and will result in a large increase in floor space and the inclusion of new non-food and TU clothing departments.

The beers, wines and spirits department, which is currently situated on a different part of the site, will be moved in-store.

The manager of Sainsbury's Ballymena, Bea Cox, commented: "We are delighted that work has commenced on the new look store. The investment will mean that customers will enjoy a new and improved food offering as well as increased non-food and clothing departments.

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"We are aiming to minimise disruption to customers during this period and colleagues in store will be able to provide shoppers with information about the different stages of the refurbishment throughout the period."

Sainsbury's retail lead for the project, Emer Torney, added: "This is a substantial investment by Sainsbury's in the Ballymena store which shows our continued commitment to provide customers in Northern Ireland with stores that are not only fantastic to shop in but also have a really wide range of food and non-food items.

"This is the second major investment in an existing store in the last 12 months with the Newry store enjoying a similar investment in 2010. There are plans for additional investment in Northern Ireland with three potential new stores currently in the planning process.

"We are working with a number of local contractors and our own team to ensure the Ballymena store can continue to trade for most of the period of the refurbishment. Work is scheduled to be completed early summer."

Sainsbury's currently has 12 stores in Northern Ireland and works with more than 100 local suppliers to source more than £250 million worth of products, £40 million of which is sold locally.

(JG)