Asda to invest £500m in stores and supply chain

The Walmart-owned grocer is planning 25 new stores and three depots, which it said will create up to 5,000 jobs in local communities.

The new openings will add more than over 600,000 sq ft of net selling space to Asda, through superstores, small format supermarkets and Asda Living shops.

Asda said Prime Minister David Cameron “welcomes” the grocer’s commitment to job creation.

The retailer said the new depots will add “additional capacity and efficiency” to Asda’s logistics network, “enabling it to meet planned organic growth”. 

Asda president and chief executive Andy Clarke said: “I am delighted to be able to start 2012 on such a positive note, doing what we do best - creating new jobs, working with new communities and bringing Asda’s low prices to families who need the value we can bring.”

Asda vowed in April 2010 to have 150 Asda Living shop inside five years but has 27 at the moment and plans to open just one more.