THE Archbishop of York will officially open the new Waitrose store at Foss Islands Road this week.

Dr John Sentamu will open the store, which will employ 180 people, on Thursday, at 8.30am.

The new store has embraced a carbon-cutting initiative, and will be the first Waitrose store in the country to introduce electric charging points at two of its car park spaces, use ‘green’ HFC-free fridges and will also use cold air retrieval as an alternative to air-conditioning.

The store will also be encouraging shoppers to cycle to the store by offering them the use of its free-of-charge cycle trailers.