Wembley Park Market, London’s newest indoor market, has responded to the current challenges resulting from COVID-19 and has now launched an online delivery service. Home to a number of independent brands, merchants and makers, the delivery service provides a range of products including store cupboard items such as pasta, rice, gourmet frozen dishes, and sweet treats, as well as home comforts such as plants and candles to residents within the local community in Wembley Park.
To further boost the selection of choice available, and encourage the local community to stay at home, Wembley Park Market has collaborated with New Covent Garden Market (NCGM) and Bread Ahead, Wembley Park’s artisan bakery and baking school. This will allow the market to offer ‘Fresh Produce’ boxes including a seasonal mix of fresh fruit and vegetables plus a selection of baked goods including sourdough and seeded loaves.
Matt Slade, Retail Director at Quintain, said: “It’s great to see our tenants working together and adapting their business models so quickly to respond to the current crisis. Wembley Park is home to more than 1,800 residents across our on-site Tipi build-to-rent apartments plus a significant population within the local catchment too. Although Wembley Park is a world-famous destination, Wembley Park Market’s online delivery service exemplifies that the development truly caters to all in more normal times, from international visitors and tourists to local residents living within the scheme and in the surrounding areas across the London Borough of Brent.”
Launched in response to the limited availability of some groceries, and to encourage the local community efforts to stay at home, Wembley Park Market launched the online delivery service in less than a week, to bring its offering online for the first time since the market opened in Spring 2019. The 4,000 sq ft market brings a 21st century approach to one of the oldest retail and community traditions.
Operated by MrktMrkt, a London-based, innovative market and retail emporium developer and operator, the space is home to independent, artisanal merchants and makers offering a range of services, crafts and products to make up the tapestry of a vibrant modern market.
Wembley Park Market is a key element of Quintain’s £3bn transformation of the area with an ethos that champions the local community whilst nurturing Wembley Park’s unique culture.
In its 2019 Development & Place report, Cushman & Wakefield recognised the role that the reinvention of the traditional market is playing in the rejuvenation of retail destinations. ‘Considerable loyalty to the format’ has stopped markets from disappearing from high streets and ‘a new generation of customer is discovering the market for itself and reshaping how they are likely to operate in the future’.
Wembley Park Market has demonstrated its ability to quickly respond to consumer behavioural changes and adapt its operations accordingly, setting a strong precedent for its ability to respond to future challenges.
