Asda To Expand Clothing Business

Asda is gearing up for a major expansion of its clothing and other non-food outlets as it tries to close the gap with its arch-rival Tesco in overall retail sales in the UK.Threet George stand-alone stores are planned for operation this year, adding to the four opened by Asda in 2004, and new Asda Living stores, which include clothing, are to open in Altrincham, Cheshire and on the Cortonwood retail park near Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

In addition, the group says it plans to open 15 new super-stores in 2005 and build extra floor space at 20 other existing sites at a total cost of $600m. The expansion will include a 100,000sq ft superstore in Milton Keynes and will create 6,000 new jobs, according to the company. Reports that Asda is posed to acquire 13 former Safeway stores in Northern Ireland fro the Wm Morrison supermarket was confirmed last week. Industry observers in the UK and Ireland speculated that Asda might use such an acquisition as the launch pad to push south into the republic.