Countdown Belfast in Christchurch is a new state-of-the-art Green Star 3,450sqm supermarket. Located on 755 Main North Road, Belfast, the store features include digital shelf labels, energy-reducing fridge doors, bike parks and EV chargers. We spoke to the store manager Bhavin Chauhan about opening a new store.
“I grew up in India and lived in the United Kingdom, working as a Store Manager at Sainsbury's for 15 years before moving to New Zealand and becoming part of the Countdown team just over five years ago.”
He first joined Countdown as a Store Manager at the Christchurch Airport store and led the Eastgate and Moorhouse teams before taking on the newest role as Store Manager at Belfast.
He was drawn to the world of grocery because he likes working with people, both customers and teams, and thrives in the ever-changing nature of retail.
“Every day brings a new challenge, and I love the variety and pace of working in this sector - you certainly don’t get bored!”
A typical day for the manager involves spending quite a bit of time on the shop floor at the moment, getting to know new customers and team members. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly, but he tries to be out on the floor as much as possible, enjoying learning all about our new neighbourhood.
The development of the Belfast store took a couple of years. The property team spent time carefully planning the development and construction. Chauhan only joined the team a few months ago to kick off recruitment and to start getting ready for the September opening.
"Belfast is seeing impressive growth with plenty of new residential developments in the area. We wanted to ensure we were delivering a sustainable supermarket that could not only meet that growing demand both online and in-store, but also give locals a fresh new grocery shopping option with a modern look and feel," said Matt Grainger, Countdown's Director of Property.
With so many new innovations, Chauhan said it was hard to pick a favourite because they are all pretty exciting!
“I like the electronic shelf labels and fridge doors because not only are they better for our planet, but they also help to create a nicer shopping experience for our customers - it’s not as cold browsing through our chilled sections, and it’s easier to see the prices of products. We’ve already had some positive feedback from customers, which is great,” said Chauhan.
Belfast is a growing area of Christchurch, and the Northwood store hadn’t quite been meeting the community's needs. The new store has provided a greater shopping experience for locals and a nicer place for the team to work. There are currently 35 team members that have transitioned over from the Northwood store, and more to come when it shuts its doors in January.
Another significant feature of the Belfast site is the eStore. Not open to customers, the facility has been designed explicitly for picking online orders, with the team currently reaching around 200 orders per day.
“We’re thrilled to be part of the Belfast community, and we hope our customers will love our new, sustainable store as much as we do!”
