Co-op has announced an exclusive partnership with Glastonbury to open a shop at the 2019 festival. Alongside the pop up festival store, Co-op has submitted planning application for a new store in the village of Pilton, adjacent to the festival site.
Glastonbury’s famously high environmental and community responsibility standards, led to Co-op being carefully selected as the festival’s retail partner. The agreement between the two is founded in a shared ethos of co-operation, community support, ethical values and campaigning to make meaningful change.
This partnership builds on the success the retailer had at music festivals last year, and will see a Co-op convenience shop built in the campsite area of the Somerset based festival, which regularly welcomes 175,000 people.
Selling a wide range of food, drink and festival essentials like sandwiches, water, bacon, eggs and bread alongside the obligatory sun cream and rain ponchos, the store will relieve festival goers of having to stock up on everything before they get to the festival and lightens the rucksack load too.
If approved, the new convenience store in Pilton will serve the local community, providing a wide range of products as well as creating a number of full and part-time jobs, targeted at people living in the immediate area. Co-op also gives its members and customers the opportunity to raise funds for local groups and organisations through its membership scheme, available to all who shop in its stores.
Amanda Jennings, Director of Marketing Live & Local, Co-op, said, “This is such an exciting and unique opportunity to build on our expertise of running festival stores and work with a partner to bring to life our shared values. Glastonbury is the ultimate live music festival and we can’t wait to welcome existing and new customers, young and old to our pop-up shop.
'Music festivals create a happy, weekend community, which we are perfectly placed to serve, getting closer to customers with our unique convenience offer, providing high quality and value for money essential items to help festival goers make the most of their Glastonbury experience.”
Jennings added, ’As the first national food retailer to work in this way with Glastonbury, we are developing exciting and unique plans together for the festival store. Equally, if the planning application is approved, opening a Co-op in Pilton would give us the opportunity to continue to serve the local community once the music has stopped and the tents have been packed away ’.
Michael Eavis, Glastonbury founder said, “When I was a small boy there were three shops in this village. My earliest memories of going to the shop were to buy one penny packets of sherbet! Since then, one by one, the shops have closed and for several years we’ve had no shops at all.
'But now, thankfully we’ve managed to persuade the Co-op people to make a pledge and commit to trying to provide our marvellous village with a model village shop. We’re so lucky and my enthusiasm is shared right across the village!”
