The two retailers jointly are moving into Market Square as part of a wider expansion strategy in the Channel Islands.
They will take over the former Edinburgh Woollen Mill shop at Rectory House. In recent times it has been used as a charity shop by Health Connections.
Instead of second-hand clothing and household goods there will be 32 freezers with more than 700 lines of chilled and frozen products, a bakery and a ‘food to go’ section.
‘We’re pleased to be opening a second Iceland location in Guernsey, this time right in the centre of St Peter Port,’ said Keiran Poole, operations director at Alliance.
‘The new store has been designed with Town centre shoppers in mind.’
He said that the company would be employing more people as a result of the move.
Justin Addison, international and partnerships director at Iceland Foods, said the new shop strengthened its partnership with Alliance, secured when local Iceland stores were sold to Morrisons by former operator SandpiperCI in November.
‘We’re delighted to be bringing Iceland to the heart of Guernsey town centre,’ he said.
As Iceland prepares to move in, the site’s current tenant, Health Connections, announced the closure of its pop-up charity shop at the same location. The organisation will relocate to its Smith Street shop and expand its opening hours to seven days a week starting from 1 September.
Health Connections will vacate the shop on Saturday 23 August and will host a relocation sale where items will be available by donation.
CEO Bella Farrell said the move would allow the charity to focus on strengthening its primary store while exploring future pop-up locations.
‘We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who has supported our Market Square shop – our generous landlord, customers, donors, and volunteers have played a huge part in our success,’ she said.
Reaction from islanders shopping at Alliance in Braye Road yesterday was varied.
‘It’s fantastic for people who live locally to Town or don’t have cars – they can just nip in without needing to drive somewhere like Waitrose,’ said Clarice Queripel.
But others were less enthusiastic.
‘To be honest, there’s quite a lot of supermarkets already and the Coop is just around the corner,’ said Susan Le Page.
‘There’s already enough food shops and lunch options in Town. I’m not sure that a new store there would work very well,’ added Liam de Jersey.
You need to be logged in to comment. If you had an account on our previous site, you can migrate your old account and comment profile to this site by visiting this page and entering the email address for your old account. We'll then send you an email with a link to follow to complete the process.