Deliveroo has opened two new dark stores for its Hop rapid grocery delivery service in collaboration with Morrisons and Waitrose.
The Canning Town dark store with Morrisons marks the partnership’s eleventh Hop site, while the new store in Kentish Town with Waitrose is the upmarket retailer’s third site, The Grocer reported.
The delivery-only stores will provide local residents with access to groceries seven days a week, from 8am to 11pm.
Deliveroo chief business officer UK&I, Carlo Mocci, said that Hop’s “enduring popularity demostrates the importance our customers place on accessing fresh groceries, delivered straight to their doorstep.
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“The success of the service has meant a further expansion across London and we are excited to build on our longstanding and successful partnership with Morrisons and Waitrose to expand our grocery offering to local residents.”
Deliveroo first launched Hop in September 2021 in a bid to enhance its customer experience with greater stock assurance, a wider product range and increased speed through its own delivery-only grocery stores.
Following this most recent expansion, Deliveroo said its dark stores are now placed in two thirds of London’s Boroughs.
However, retailers can also access Hop via their own stores, as Asda launched its first Hop site at its ‘Express’ convenience store in Tottenham Hale in April.
The trial sees Asda continuing to own and manage the site with colleagues picking and packing orders, while using Deliveroo’s technology and logistics network.
The Hop expansion also comes as Amazon has officially launched on the Deliveroo app, offering a range of more than 1,000 items for delivery from its Amazon Fresh store in Hoxton.
