Iceland to open first 'dark store' on Tipton trading estate

The frozen food giant has around 860 shops, including a growing number of its bigger Food Warehouses, but this will be the first site completely devoted to its growing army of internet shoppers.

Iceland has run deliveries from its shops since 1996 and relaunched its online shopping in 2013. It now makes 200,000 deliveries a week from stores and its internet business.

But this will be the first so-called 'dark store'. These usually resemble a conventional supermarket but are not open to the public, housing goods and groceries used to fulfil orders placed online.

Property agency Harris Lamb has let the final 18,000 sq ft unit on the Link One Trading Estate in Great Bridge to Iceland as a warehouse for online orders and it is due to go into operation from next month.

Tom Morley, who oversaw the deal for Harris Lamb, said: "This is a great brand to join the existing companies located at Link One.

The estate is well managed, and the units have all been refurbished to a high specification, making them very appealing given the current shortage of high quality industrial stock in the region.

"Add to that the site's gated, has 24-hour CCTV security, and it's easy to see why the units have been in very high demand.

"The real appeal for Iceland, though, was the estate's prime strategic position, which makes it an ideal location for the retailer's first dark store venture.

"The store won't be open to the public, but the site's excellent access links make it perfect for fulfilling online orders.

"This has been a fast transaction for the business, which was keen to be in situ as soon as possible. The unit was placed under offer in May, with the deal completing within six weeks," he added.

No-one from Iceland was available to comment and it is not known how many people will work at the new store.

But earlier this year Iceland was hailed Britain's best online store in a Which? annual supermarket survey, ahead of Waitrose and Ocado, as well as Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury's.

At the time, Iceland founder and chief executive Malcolm Walker said: "Iceland pioneered home delivery in the UK 20 years ago, and launched the first nationwide online shopping service in 1999, so I can say with confidence that we have more experience in this area than anyone else.

"Since we relaunched online in 2013 our service has grown rapidly thanks to our easy-to-use website, great products and brilliant people – and we now make around nine million home deliveries every year."