Waitrose in Abingdon had all the new parts of the store reopened from today.

This is the third Waitrose store in Oxfordshire to trial ‘Unpacked’ after Oxford’s Botley Road, which has been running for a few months, and Wallingford, which is very recent. Customers can take and weigh their own containers and refill them in the “Refillable” zone with: lentils, rice and pasta, dried fruit, breakfast cereals, seeds etc. . There are also wines and beers on tap; unpacked frozen fruits; coffee beans for grinding in-store; and Ecover detergents and washing liquids. The aim is to give people the choice to buy things with less disposable packaging. You can still buy most of these products in wrappers elsewhere in the store.

Other changes included reconfigured areas of shelving; the cafe area is walled off from the store and called Waite & Rose; and outside are some new cash machines.

I did not notice a big change in the unwrapped range in the fruit and vegetables section. That may be to come. The Unwrapped trial in Oxford had a lot more unwrapped fruit and veg.

The fruit and veg section has been expanded but is mixed with more pre-processed vegetables like the new range of sliced potatoes.

Some Christmas Lights are already on in Abingdon. In Bury Street the lights were put up last night and turned on without ceremony. The rest of the town’s lights were put up last week and will get turned on at the Extravaganza. This two phase turn on is quite normal for Abingdon where the company running Bury Street do their own thing.

The Book Store has got some reindeer and snow to make the window festive. Other shops in Bury Street are also looking festive.

Simon’s News, on East St Helen Street, will be closing down on Saturday 23rd November. Simon says this is partly due to ill health.

The closure is a great shame for Abingdon as Simon’s News is the last dedicated Newsagent in Central and South Abingdon, after McColl’s Stores, in Reynold’s Way, closed last month. I heard that a lot of the paper rounds from Simons and McColls will now transfer to Rowes in Wantage.

There will be a sale for the next couple of weeks. Simon’s News have a wide variety of traditional sweets in jars.

On the Fairacres Retail Park there has been a revamp of the Lee Longlands store. They are marking the merger of their Vineys and Lee Longlands, Abingdon showrooms, and the Mayor of Abingdon was there to cut the ribbon. The Vineys showroom closed as part of the Fairacres phase 2 development.

Lee Longlands took over Vineys in 2002. Both businesses have been established well over 100 years. Lee Longlands was established in 1902 in Birmingham, and Vineys was established in the 1870s in Abingdon.

The store merger sees both Lee Longlands and Vineys styles of furniture in different areas of the store.

Vineys have had a number of different premises in Abingdon, selling drapery and furniture. This picture shows a shop in High Street. Mays and Vineys set up a consortium and established the Fairacres Retail Park around 1973.